No option to back off in Raikkonen collision, says Bottas
Valtteri Bottas is adamant that he couldn’t have done anything differently when he collided with countryman Kimi Raikkonen at Turn 2 of the Azerbaijan GP.
This was not the first time the two Finns have made contact, although this time the Mercedes driver came off worst, dropping to the back with a puncture. He got his lap back at a safety car and from there managed to recover to second place.
“It's a bit of a shame it's again me and Kimi but we've been fighting for similar positions and it's just unlucky that it's us again,” said Bottas. “I was on the inside, he was obviously outside, he didn't brake later and he was kind of ahead but I was on the inside, so then normally inside you have the line. He was turning in the corner, so that for me there was nowhere else to go, other than over the curb. And for me it was not an option to back off at that point.
“I just went over the curb, bottomed out, the car jumped and hit him and I got a puncture. So, you know, I don't know really, I need to have a bit more look of the videos and stuff and review it a bit more but for me it was no option to back off. I was on the inside, I thought I had the corner, there should have been, again, space for two cars to go around. And he was anyway a bit further ahead so maybe he could've kept his position anyway.”
Bottas said he enjoyed his remarkable drive through the field.
“I was one lap down in the beginning and during the safety car I had to overtake everyone and catch them again. But this just shows you should never give up, you never know what is going to happen in the race. Just kept the head down, kept pushing, and team also during the red glad managed to fix the car a little bit so they did a really good job during that. I really enjoyed it and just had fun. But shame, in the end, that Daniel was just too far away but taking the circumstances at the beginning, it’s a good result for us.”
He admitted that he was surprised that Hamilton was suddenly behind him, having misunderstood a radio call: “When I got the message about the headrest I think I got the message wrong, I thought it was Sebastian’s, so I thought he had a double problem, so I was really surprised that at some point Lewis was behind me. But anyway, it was difficult to set a target really, what is achievable, but once I got through Ocon, I was already in a good position, and the team gave me the gap to Lance and also the possible place difference if I did everything right.
“Then I just really focused every single corner, every single lap absolutely perfect and pushing the maximum there was in the car, there was in the engine, in the brakes and really glad I managed to get a couple more extra points in the end. Just tried to keep my head down and keep pushing.”
