Bottas: 'I don't like being considered a winger'

Valtteri Bottas was he very frustrated by his status as second driver at Mercedes ? The Finn who spent a good part of the race holding back the Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, failed to finish 5th after damaging his front wing in contact with the German.

Under investigation after another contact with the Red Bull de Daniel Ricciardo, Valtteri Bottas learned of his “winger” status mentioned by his boss Toto wolff. The Finn does not seem to have appreciated this comparison.

Natalie: “Your boss has just called you a sensational wingman.”
Bottas: “Wingman hurts.”
SkyGo: https://t.co/fxH1316WnM #SkyF1 #F1 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/pDWLddDec9

—Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) July 29, 2018

“I don’t like being considered a wingman, replied Valtteri Bottas on Sky Sports before tempering. We still have to do the debriefing after the race. The point gap is large and the team has to make decisions at a certain point. »

Scuderia Ferrari managed to complicate Mercedes' strategy after anticipating Kimi Räikkönen's first stop to threaten Valtteri Bottas.

“I don’t see any positives to take away from this race. We left with a better result in sight. We thought we could do a one-stop race, but we had to anticipate the first pit stop to react to Kimi (Räikkönen's) strategy. Everything was still under control with 20 laps to go, I could manage my pace and my position.", explained the Mercedes driver.

As for his aggressive defense, teammate Lewis Hamilton did not want to go into details.

“I tried to defend myself as much as possible but it ended badly because my front wing was broken.” he simply mentioned. A few hours later, the International Automobile Federation (FIA) imposed a 10-second penalty on him for his collision with Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull). Nothing to call into question his 5th place however.

NEWS: @ValtteriBottas has been awarded a 10s post-race time penalty after contact with Ricciardo – he remains P5 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/Yklg4ScDvY

- Mercedes-AMG F1 (@ MercedesAMGF1) July 29, 2018

Valtteri Bottas is 4th in the Championship, 14 points behind Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn has since qualified his comments by speaking on Twitter.

“I did not request a meeting with management after Toto claimed I had been the perfect wingman in this race. This is of no use. I was disappointed with the result and I saw everything in a negative way at that moment. I know what he meant and he would have said the same thing about Lewis if he was in my situation. We are treated equally and I trust the team 100% on that.”, he said.

1/2
Some out of context news around..

I have not called a meeting with the bosses for Toto saying I was the perfect wingman in this race. There is no need to. I was disapponted with my end result in the race and saw everything in a negative way for a moment. I know what he is lying

- Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) July 29, 2018

2/2

And he would have said the same about Lewis if he’d be in the same situation and had a similar race.
We are on equal terms and I trust the team 100% on that. All good. We’ll keep pushing! It'll come. # VB77 @MercedesAMGF1

- Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) July 29, 2018

Discover the analysis of the Hungarian GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2176 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.