Bottas questions lack of tire performance in Mexico

Valtteri Bottas did not have the chance to shine last weekend at the Mexican GP where Mercedes missed the podium for the first time since Austria, where the two W09s retired due to mechanical problems. The Finn only took 5th place behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton who nevertheless won his 5th title after suffering from the resistance of the tires on the Rodriguez brothers' circuit.

“I am very happy for Lewis but we cannot be satisfied with our race which was very difficult, commented Valtteri Bottas. The start was quite good but we suffered with the tires afterwards. The life of the tires was very short and I had to pit three times. That’s two more than forecast. »

“I tried to save the tires, but they were falling apart. However, I made sure not to slip, said the Finn who remains unsuccessful this year after obeying team instructions at the Russian GP. I don't know yet why I suffered so much with the three types of tires. We'll have to take a closer look to see what went wrong. Most teams have encountered this problem, but maybe not as many as us. »

Valtteri Bottas will no longer have to respect team instructions to favor his teammate Lewis Hamilton, with Mercedes now focusing on securing the Constructors' title. But the Finn will only have the meetings in Brazil and Abu Dhabi to achieve success.

Discover the analysis of the Mexican GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2189 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.