Valtteri Bottas reckons he would need 10 pints of beer to get over the heart-breaking puncture which cost him victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Bottas looked to be on course to claim Mercedes’ first win of 2018 after perfectly managing a late Safety Car restart. On the following lap, his right-rear tyre ripped apart after he drove over some debris sitting just in front of the start-finish straight, forcing him to retire from the race.
Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton inherited the victory but after the race said Bottas had deserved to be the man standing on top of the podium.
When asked how he planned to sooth the anguish of the race, he laughed and replied: « Maybe 10 pints and we will be fine! I will get through.
« Of course you always need to go through difficulties, that’s part of racing. But at the moment it’s really painful. »
?
Sometimes the sport you love can be tough. But, I’ve learned to turn negative experiences into strenght. #VB77 #F1Baku @MercedesAMGF1
? @XPBImages @CharniauxImages pic.twitter.com/vXaP6ylgxl— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) April 29, 2018
Bottas admitted he could not see the piece of debris which ultimately cost him the fourth victory of his career.
« I think this track is difficult, street circuits in general when there are crashes. So it’s always going to be an issue, and this time I was unlucky and I have no idea at any point if I ran at any debris, I didn’t see anything, I didn’t feel anything. So yeah, just very, very unlucky. »
Had Bottas converted the victory, he would have left Azerbaijan leading the championship for the first time in his career. Instead, Bottas is fourth — eight points behind Kimi Raikkonen and 30 behind teammate and new championship leader Hamilton.
http://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/23357089/valtteri-bottas-need-10-beers-get-one
