Valtteri Bottas described his Q3 crash as “annoying” after going all out on his second run.
The Finn was only sixth fastest after the initial runs and was on course to improve before hitting the wall entering the final turn onto the pit straight and coming to an abrupt halt.
Despite the impact being measured at 17G in the cockpit, Bottas was soon given the all-clear by doctors and he confirmed there were no lasting effects.
“Yea, all good, it was a decent hit,” he admitted, speaking to F1’s Will Buxton. “But yea, all is well, no pain anywhere but it’s not an ideal end to qualifying for sure.”
Also Read:
- Hamilton & Bottas ignore title talk as Mercedes eye Mexico improvement
- Bottas getting closer to Hamilton level as Mercedes want to ‘see them race’
Explaining what happened, Valtteri continued: “First of all, before the last run in Q3, I saw there was a margin to the cars behind, so there’s basically no risk from behind so I’d rather go for it and push hard so I did!
“It was a good lap until then, I was three-tenths up so I could have potentially got to the third position which makes it pretty annoying.
“But yea, on the exit of the last corner I went a bit wider than I wanted and it was a bit dusty on the exit so that really got me and then it was too late.
“I clipped the wall, the wall really dragged me on and at the end, there was another barrier which then finally stopped me.”
Mercedes described the damage from the crash as “extensive” and potential gearbox penalties or worse could await if Bottas needs a new chassis.
If a recovery through the field is required though, the 30-year-old is sure all is not lost.
“It’s difficult to say, we know the straight-line speed isn’t our strength and you need that to overtake,” he said initially.
“But really it’s going to be about tyre management, we’ve seen pretty all the cars suffering from graining so if we can somehow avoid it, it can be good.
There’s still all to play for, it’s a long race ahead and normally its a race of many opportunities and many things happening, so I look forward to tomorrow.”