Valtteri Bottas hopes victory at the Russian Grand Prix can mark the start of a comeback in the second half of 2020.
The Finn inherited his first win since Austria on Sunday in Sochi, capitalising on a penalty for Lewis Hamilton after he completed two practice starts outside the designated area on the lap to the grid.
Bottas though was almost able to do what he did en route to his first Russian GP win back in 2017 by jumping from third to first on the run to Turn 2, but revealed a weird reason for misjudging his braking point.
“Obviously I tried [to pass], as I knew the start was going to be the first opportunity,” he said.
“I was compromised because there was a massive bee or something smashed into my visor just before the braking [point], and that’s why I couldn’t really see when I should brake and went a bit too deep.
“I knew it was going to be a long race after that and with the medium tyres I had, there would be opportunities.
“Then Lewis had a penalty and once I was in clean air I felt the pace was pretty, pretty awesome and I could really control everything.”
With Hamilton crossing the line in third, it means Bottas, who also claimed the fastest lap, closes the gap in the championship to 44 points.
Also Read:
- Bottas seeks ‘perfection’ to beat Hamilton
- Bottas would ‘rather stay home’ than give up as Mercedes insist he can race Lewis
And the Mercedes driver, who revived his “To whom it may concern” quote over the radio after winning, still believes can catch his teammate.
“It’s nice to get a win again,” Valtteri said. “It’s been a while and it definitively feels good.
“Now [I need to] try to keep the momentum, I managed to squeeze a bit more points against Lewis, there are still quite a few races to go and you never know.
“I’ll keep pushing, won’t give up and we’ll see how it ends up.”
