Valtteri Bottas revealed too much wheelspin was the reason for his poor start which would ultimately prove decisive in his battle with Sebastian Vettel for the win at the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The Finn didn’t gather as much momentum as the Ferrari off the line and that allowed Vettel to slither up the inside at the Senna ‘S’ to take the lead away from the polesitter.
Though the gap between the pair never exceeded three seconds, track position proved crucial with the Mercedes driver’s efforts to close in countered at every turn allowing the four-time world champion to claim his fifth win of 2017 and third at Interlagos.
“It was in the start that we lost the race, which is unfortunate,” he said. “The issue for me was the initial wheelspin, as soon as I started to release the clutch I broke the traction and got wheelspin, so that’s why I had a poor getaway.
“I was trying to cover the inside but, honestly, looking in the mirror I could only see Kimi behind, I couldn’t see Seb anywhere. I was kind of guessing he could be shooting from the inside and so he did it. There’s was nothing to do.”
Such was the fine margin that decided the race, with the top four covered by just 5.4 seconds at the chequered flag, Bottas is sure he would have replicated Vettel’s race if he had emerged from the first three corners ahead.
“It was very, very close and we tried to put a lot of pressure on Seb, trying to keep up, trying to get close, especially around the pit stop time,” the 28-year-old explained. “Being first out of Turn 1 would have made a very different race but if and if… he did a better start and that’s it.
“I’m definitively disappointed after the good day we had yesterday and it’s also not so good for me on the battle we have for second place in the championship.
“It looks quite ugly now and it will take a miracle in Abu Dhabi,” he added, with 22 points now the gap between them.
