Valtteri Bottas forced to save fuel at the end of the race

If the TV broadcast didn't show it well live, Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) et Max Verstappen (Red Bull) ended up in a handkerchief at the finish line of the Canadian Grand Prix last night in Montreal.

The Finn gave a simple explanation after the checkered flag to highlight the Dutchman's return. « I took my foot off because we had to save fuel, comments Bottas. That's why Max came back so close. »

The Mercedes driver, however, achieved a fourth place in 2018, and saved the weekend for the world champion team, since Lewis Hamilton fails in fifth place behind Daniel Ricciardo.

“We tried everything, but I don't think we had the chance to fight for victory today, believes the former pilot Williams who fought hard with Max Verstappen at the start.

After that I tried to put pressure on Sebastian, but I didn't have enough pace. La Ferrari controlled the race and we weren't fast enough today. »

Bottas also highlights the additional difficulty for Mercedes, which preferred to delay the introduction of its engine development to the next French Grand Prix. “We were the only top team not to bring a new engine for this race, everyone had an upgraded Power Unit. »

Valtteri Bottas also clarified that a different choice of tires for the weekend could have helped the W09s in qualifying. “It's easy to say in retrospect, but if we came here again, we would have chosen at least one more hyper-soft train.

We could have squeezed out a little more in qualifying, because we had limited running time. » Mercedes had in fact retained fewer of the softer compounds compared to Ferrari and Red Bull.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Canadian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Montreal, in issue 2169 of AUTOhebdo, available this evening in digital version, and this Wednesday on newsstands.