Bottas lost a lot of money after Hamilton’s title loss
Valtteri Bottas confesses that Lewis Hamilton’s world 2021 drivers championship loss cost him a lot of money.
Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas to race in the 2022 Arctic Rally
Valtteri Bottas has confirmed that he will race in the Arctic Rally for the fourth year in a row.
Supporting role at Mercedes affected Bottas mentally
Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas has opened up about the mental damage he took when he was forced to help Lewis Hamilton for the first time at Mercedes. Despite exhibiting flashes of brilliance, Bottas was never able to beat Hamilton throughout the course of a season, and was frequently forced to settle for second best. “I would say overall, yes,” The finn said in an end-of-season interview when asked if he felt he was treated properly during his time at Mercedes. “Especially always in the beginnings of the season until the halfway point for sure… very fairly. “If there was a points gap, then naturally people and the team started to think it’s most likely going to be this driver who’s going to fight for the championship and not this one,” Bottas added. “I think just unconsciously, it can change the behaviour of some people and decision making, et cetera.” The first blow to Bottas’ psyche came during his second season with the team, specifically at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix, when he was requested to give up a win to help Hamilton win the championship. “There’s been also very clear cases that I’ve been in a support role, and I would say, the first time when that happened, probably 2018, it was really hard to accept,” added Bottas. “It was pretty tough. “That wasn’t good for me mentally, the space I was in mentally. As time goes on, you accept it, if that’s the situation, that you’re behind in the points.” Bottas was asked if he is looking forward to being a team leader at Alfa Romeo. “Absolutely. It’s one of the big reasons why [I made] this change, and I think I’m going to enjoy it.” “I’m definitely ready to take big responsibility. It’s going to be crazy to think it’s my 10th season in Formula 1 [this year] so I’m sure I can put into good use everything I’ve learned with Mercedes and Williams over there [with Alfa].”
Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou make their debut with Alfa Romeo in Abu Dhabi Post Season Test
After completing the 2021 Formula Season with Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas was back on the track with his new team Alfa Romeo. This comes after Alfa Romeo announced their all new 2022 driver line-up back in November. Partnering Bottas for the 18 inch Pirelli tyre Post Season Test was Guanyu Zhou who made a debut in Formula 1 after racing for Uni Virtuosi in Formula 2. Zhou was the runner up in Formula 2 Championship after Oscar Piastri claimed the F2 title. The two Alfa Romeo drivers set out to the track at Yas Marina with Bottas sporting 18 inch Pirelli tyres which are set for 2022. Zhou on the other hand, got to experience the Alfa Romeo 2021 car after getting acquainted with the Swiss team. However, Bottas was running on a mule car which Zhou will switch to on Wednesday for Pirelli tyre test.
Bottas had a different car from Hamilton in Qatar GP
Valtteri Bottas has revealed he had a different spec W12 compared to Lewis Hamilton in Qatar, but couldn’t go in further details. The departing Mercedes driver topped two of three practice sessions at the Losail International Circuit and qualified third for Sunday’s race, but the weekend started to unravel quickly after that for the Finn. Slapped with a three-place grid drop for failing to respect yellow flags in qualifying, Bottas lost more valuable places at the start and, just eight laps in, was soon given the hurry-up by a less-than-impressed Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. Bottas made slow but gradual progress back up the order, but a puncture just past the pit-lane entry and an eventual retirement from the race due to too much damage to his car compounded his misery. The Mercedes driver said he had no prior warning that he was risking a puncture, but did suggest elsewhere in his media rounds after the race that he had a different set-up compared to Hamilton. “I have found out the reason, but I cannot give details,” Bottas said. “But my car was no longer quite the same as it was, nor was it the same as Lewis’. “There were little differences in the cars.” Meanwhile, Wolff gave Bottas his vote of confidence after being quizzed about the Finn’s latest below-par performance. “We know that he can drive away when he’s at the front,” Wolff said. “So the speed is there. “I have absolute confidence in him for the next races and I hope that we will have a good car. Then Valtteri will be at the front again because we need him there. As for Bottas puncture, Wolff added to Sky Italia: “He’s very unlucky, because his start was very bad, then he recovered, he was P3 on track, and then there was this puncture. “If he had finished the race, we would have had a bit of a safety margin for the Constructors’ Championship, now it will be all decided at the end.”
Bottas gets a three-place grid penalty for yellow flags breach in Qatar
The Qatar stewards have announced that Valtteri Bottas will drop 3 places on the grid for today’s Qatar Grand Prix. Of the three drivers summoned by the stewards post-qualifying, the Finn was the last to be seen, however his was the first ‘verdict’ to be announced. Having reviewed video, telemetry and the marshalling system evidence, the stewards head that Bottas admitted he did not notice the yellow flag displayed at Flag Point 16.6 and conceded that he did not reduce speed as required in the yellow flag area despite noting that Pierre Gasly was stationary on the pit straight. Deeming the failure to respect the single yellow flag a breach of Appendix H, Art. 2.5.5.b) of the FIA International Sporting Code and noncompliance with Race Director’s Event Notes 7.2, the stewards deem that Bottas drops of 3 grid positions and is handed 1 penalty point, bringing his 12 month total to 5. Bottas was shown a single waved yellow flag as he approached the start/finish line at the end of his final flying lap in Q3, due to Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri which was stopped beside the pit wall. The stewards said the Mercedes driver “admitted he did not notice the yellow flag displayed at flag point 16.6 and conceded that he did not reduce speed as required in the yellow flag area despite noting that car 10 [Gasly] was stationary on the pit straight,” the stewards noted. The penalties for Verstappen and Bottas will promote Gasly, who originally qualified fourth, to the front row of the grid for today’s race.
Bottas and Sainz also summoned by stewards after Qatar qualifying
Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz have also been summoned to the stewards after qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix over alleged yellow flag infringements. This comes after Verstappen was summoned for the same issue. Verstappen qualified P2 in today’s session with a lap time of 1:21.282. However, it appears that the Dutchman kept driving through the final sector of the circuit whilst double-waved yellow flags were shown. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly qualified fourth today, but he ended up with a puncture in his front right tyre after going over some curbs whilst going through the penultimate corner. Verstappen improved on his first lap of Q3 by a tenth of a second, which has raised suspicion as to whether or not he eased off the throttle. As a result, Verstappen has been summoned to the stewards for a potential infringement, but he will not be going to see them until 13:00 local time tomorrow on race day. Valtteri Bottas, who took third on your grid, is also under investigation. This was for an incident involving singled waved yellow flags. Carlos Sainz, who took seventh, is under investigation for the same thing. After Verstappen at 13:00 local time, Bottas will meet with the stewards tomorrow at 13:30, and Sainz will follow at 13:45. Speaking about this situation, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel believes that the yellow flag was cancelled at the end of the third qualifying session “because Max was coming”. Vettel was also affected by the flags but is “pretty happy” as he managed to out-qualify Perez, Leclerc, and Ricciardo. He has said that: “I had the yellow flag in the last sector and then the yellow flag cleared, I guess, because Max was coming.” Double yellow flags mean that drivers should ‘abort the lap’ as a car is on the track, which Vettel did but he believes he could have been “the only one”. The flags were there for everyone’s safety and it was clearly shown that debris came off of Gasly’s car when the puncture was obtained. No more has been said at this time as to the outcome of this alleged infringement, so Verstappen and fans will have to wait to find out if a grid penalty will be given to the driver for Qatar Grand Prix race.
Valtteri Bottas tops Qatar GP FP2 as Red Bull experience rear wing issues
Rear wing talk continues to dominate discussion at the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, with Red Bull suffering from oscillation issues in second practice. While Mercedes replaced Red Bull at the top of timesheet with Valtteri Bottas quickest of anyone in FP2 – setting a 1:23.148, two tenths clear of Pierre Gasly who was a surprise P2 – the main focus was once again on wings as Red Bull’s upper flap on the rear was blighted by severe oscillation. The Red Bull mechanics spent time addressing the issue on both cars throughout the second session, Verstappen finishing the day in P3 three tenths off the pace set by Bottas. Title rival Lewis Hamilton, in P4, was four tenths slower than his team-mate. As darkness descended on the Losail International Circuit and temperatures cooled, the FP2 session offered the drivers and teams much more representative conditions of what they can expect once the lights go out on Sunday. Just 19 drivers would be able to get the vital track experience they needed as Haas’ Nikita Mazepin sat out the session because of an unscheduled chassis change. Visbility was proving to be a slight issue for some drivers as their eyes adjusted to the dazzling floodlights beaming down on the dark tarmac. Sergio Perez needed to come back into the garage to replace the visor on his helmet. After the opening stints, it was Mercedes who were top of the pile as Bottas held a two-tenth gap over team-mate Hamilton. The latter almost got in Bottas’ way in the early stages but, thankfully for them, they managed to avoid an embarrassing collision between them. Bottas then returned to the track and pumped in a 1:23.154, but that lap was deleted for clearly exceeding track limits at Turn 7. At Red Bull, their focus was on rear wings, but their own on this occasion, as there was an issue with the DRS on Verstappen’s car which was soon fixed…or so we thought. Back on track, Verstappen’s team-mate Perez was starting a flying lap, but soon backed out due to traffic problems in sector two. Verstappen found a quieter moment to throw down his first qualifying sim run, yet found himself two tenths down in the first sector. That gap extended to four tenths by the time he crossed the line, but there was a suspicion that his car was carrying a slightly heavier fuel load compared to others. There was also a firm eye staying fixed on Red Bull’s rear wing, which was still misbehaving with the upper flap oscillating when the DRS was open. The problem kept Perez in the garage for much longer than he would have liked. Meanwhile, Verstappen’s former team-mate Pierre Gasly found himself sandwiched in between the two Mercedes drivers after an eye-catching lap on the softs. Verstappen re-emerged for another crack at dislodging Bottas, but again was no match for the Mercedes through the first sector. He did find improvement, but only by a tenth. Work to do, it appears, for Red Bull ahead of qualifying day on Saturday. 2021 F1 QATAR GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2) POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m23.148s 2 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m23.357s 3 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m23.498s 4 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m23.570s 5 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m23.632s 6 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m23.705s 7 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m23.735s 8 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m23.787s 9 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m24.020s 10 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m24.033s 11 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m24.041s 12 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m24.056s 13 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m24.095s 14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m24.135s 15 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m24.631s 16 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1m24.954s 17 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m25.072s 18 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m25.290s 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m25.575s 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team No Time Set
Bottas wins Sao Paulo GP Sprint race as Hamilton finishes 5th after starting from the back of the grid
Valtteri Bottas denied Max Verstappen victory in the Sprint Qualifying race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace on Saturday as Lewis Hamilton drove from twentieth on the grid to finish an amazing fifth. Bottas got the jump on Verstappen at the start and was able to get ahead of the Red Bull Racing driver heading into turn one, whilst behind him Carlos Sainz Jr. moved from fifth on the grid to run third, getting ahead of both Pierre Gasly and Sergio Pérez. Sainz then moved ahead of Verstappen at turn four, with the Dutchman running wide as a result, although the positions switched back a few laps later at turn one once he was able to use the drag reduction system down the main straight. Hamilton, who had started at the back after being disqualified from Qualifying for a DRS infringement, made up four places on the opening lap and then made light work of the midfield runners to enter the top ten, although once there he was made to work harder, particularly against the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Sebastian Vettel. Bottas, running on the soft tyres, was able to keep enough life in them until the chequered flag to deny Verstappen the win, even when the Red Bull driver got close enough to open his drag reduction system on his rear wing. Bottas took the chequered flag at the end of the twenty-four laps 1.170 seconds clear to take the three points. Bottas and Verstappen ended well clear of the battle for third, with Sainz able to keep Pérez behind him all the way to the chequered flag. Pérez had a few attempts at passing the Scuderia Ferrari driver but to no avail, so the final point on offer went the way of the Spaniard. Lando Norris was a man on a mission early on as he rose to fifth, but he was Hamilton’s final victim heading into turn one on the final lap, with the McLaren F1 Team racer being forced to settle for sixth. Hamilton’s fifth place will turn into a tenth place start for Sunday’s race thanks to his grid penalty for an unscheduled change of Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) ahead of the weekend. Charles Leclerc ended seventh in the second Ferrari ahead of Gasly, with the Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver struggling at the start and losing out massively to fall to seventh. Once Hamilton was passed him, he fell back further from those ahead of him and ended down in eighth, while the top ten was completed by Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon and Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team’s Vettel. Ricciardo missed out on the top ten after a poor start, with the second McLaren driver ending eleventh, just ahead of the second Alpine of Fernando Alonso, who also failed to get a good getaway off the line in Brazil. Antonio Giovinazzi survived an incident with Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team-mate Kimi Räikkönen at turn one that spun around the Finn to finish thirteenth, with the Italian ending ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. Nicholas Latifi beat Williams Racing team-mate George Russell to sixteenth, while Räikkönen ended eighteenth after his spin, with the incident involving Giovinazzi not deemed serious enough to be investigated. The field was rounded out by Uralkali Haas F1 Team duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin. Bottas will start Sunday’s main race in São Paulo ahead of Verstappen, while Hamilton will have all the confidence in the world to move forward from tenth on the grid having made up fifteen places in just twenty-four laps on Saturday. After all, there are seventy-one laps to come on Sunday! 2021 F1 SAO PAULO GRAND PRIX – SPRINT QUALIFYING RESULTS POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 24 Laps 2 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing + 1.170s 3 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 18.723s 4 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing + 19.787s 5 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team + 20.872s 6 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 22.558s 7 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 25.056s 8 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda + 34.158s 9 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team + 34.632s 10 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 34.867s 11 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team + 35.869s 12 Fernando Alonso ESP Alpine F1 Team + 36.578s 13 Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 41.880s 14 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 44.037s 15 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda + 46.150s 16 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing + 46.760s 17 George Russell GBR Williams Racing + 47.739s 18 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 50.014s 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team + 61.680s 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team + 67.474s After
Toto Wolf annoyed with Bottas for letting Verstappen through on Turn 1
Toto Wolff is unhappy with how poleman Valtteri Bottas failed to prevent Max Verstappen from overhauling both Mercedes drivers at the start of the Mexican GP. Ahead of Sunday’s race, Hamilton vowed to work with Bottas to fend off any attacks from the Red Bull camp. But as the front-runners barreled down to the first corner, Bottas remained alongside his teammate in the middle of the track rather than move towards to the left towards the racing line to block Verstappen’s charging Red Bull. And to add insult to injury, the Finn was then tagged and spun around by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, a setback from which Bottas could not recover. “That should not happen,” Wolff told Sky. “I think we had two cars in front and seemed to open up the scene for Max to come around the outside.” “And even the spin afterwards, and the complete loss of points with Valtteri’s car when there could have been a third or fourth place is annoying, to say the least.” Bottas eventually secured the fastest race lap, depriving Verstappen of an extra point, but Wolff appeared indifferent to the feat. “I mean, that doesn’t really console me at that stage.” Looking back on the race, the Austrian conceded that Mercedes would have likely been hard-pressed to prevail against Red Bull in Mexico if the start had gone according to plan “You have to congratulate Red Bull because the pace was just on another level,” Wolff said. “I don’t think we could have won the race even if he would have stayed ahead in the first corner, because they could have driven circles around us around the pit stops. “In the end, I think for Lewis’s championship it was damage limitation. And for the constructors’, Valtteri spinning out at turn one was very painful.”
Bottas takes pole as Mercedes lock out the front row in the Mexican GP qualifying(full results)
Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has taken pole position for the Mexican GP, leading a 1-2 for the Brackley team as Lewis Hamilton claimed second place. In what was a surprising turn of events, Mercedes proved untouchable in the final part of qualifying as Bottas set a 1:15.875 on his first run in Q3. This was over a tenth quicker than what Hamilton managed, but it was Red Bull who shocked as they fell short in the crunch part of qualifying. Having looked the favourites throughout the weekend, Verstappen was left scratching his head after falling 0.350 shy of what Bottas managed. A reasonably scruffy first flying lap put him on the back foot, while his second run was ruined when AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda went off through the esses on the final runs. This distracted Sergio Perez, with the two cars being off the track and distracting Verstappen as he arrived at the scene. Perez was left in fourth, with neither Red Bull improving on their second runs as a result of the incident. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished in fifth, just over a tenth shy of Perez and possibly highlighting just how far short Red Bull fell in the final part of qualifying. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished sixth, having survived a scare in the first part of qualifying when he appeared to suffer a power unit issue leaving the pits. He managed to get the car fired back up to full power, going on to make it into Q3. McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was seventh, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and Tsunoda in ninth. The Japanese driver will start on the Soft compound, having been the only driver in the top ten in Q2 to use the red marked tyres to get through the second part of qualifying. Rounding out the top ten was McLaren’s Lando Norris, although he will start from the back of the grid as a result of an engine change grid penalty. 2021 F1 MEXICAN GP – QUALIFYING RESULTS POS. DRIVER NAT. TEAM Q1 Q2 Q3 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m16.727s 1m16.864s 1m15.875s 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m17.207s 1m16.474s 1m16.020s 3 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m16.788s 1m16.483s 1m16.225s 4 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m17.003s 1m17.055s 1m16.342s 5 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m16.908s 1m16.955s 1m16.456s 6 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m17.517s 1m17.248s 1m16.761s 7 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m17.719s 1m17.092s 1m16.763s 8 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m16.748s 1m17.034s 1m16.837s 9 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m17.330s 1m16.701s 1m17.158s 10 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m17.569s 1m17.473s 1m36.830s 11 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m17.502s 1m17.746s 12 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m17.606s 1m17.958s 13 George Russell GBR Williams Racing 1m17.958s 1m18.172s 14 Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m17.897s 1m18.290s 15 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m18.126s 1m18.405s 16 Fernando Alonso ESP Alpine F1 Team 1m18.452s 17 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m18.756s 18 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m18.858s 19 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m19.303s 20 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m20.873s After being absent from the 2020 season calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Formula 1 returns to racing in Mexico this weekend.
Mexican GP FP1: Bottas tops Mercedes 1-2 as Hamilton is under investigation for track limits breach
Valtteri Bottas kicked off the Mexican Grand Prix weekend by setting the fastest time in opening practice, ahead of Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton. Dusty conditions and a green track made for challenging, low grip conditions for the drivers, but Bottas appeared unfazed as he lit up the timesheets with a 1m18.341s to finish 0.076s clear of Hamilton. Hamilton, who heads into the weekend trialing Max Verstappen in the world championship by 12 points, has been summoned to see the stewards in Mexico City between practice sessions for a track limits incident. The seven-time world champion ran wide at Turn 1 before rejoining at Turn 3 in a moment early on during the first practice session at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. Hamilton reported over team radio that he “couldn’t slow down there” but he will be investigated after FP1 for failing to follow race director Michael Masi’s notes which state that drivers must return to the track by going around the left hand side of the Turn 3 bollard, which Hamilton did not do. However, it is unlikely Hamilton will be given anything more than a reprimand for the transgression. Hamilton’s title rival Verstappen was just 0.123s off the pace as he took third, ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, who finished 0.269s down. Home hero Perez recovered from an early setback to his weekend when he missed track running after hitting the Turn 16 barriers following a spin early in the session. He was able to return to the action for the final 20 minutes. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was fifth-fastest and the final driver to get within a second of Bottas’ benchmark time. Behind Gasly was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc, who like Perez suffered rear wing damage with an off at Turn 16. Esteban Ocon ensured both Alpine cars finished inside the top 10, which was completed by Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin. During the session it was confirmed that both Yuki Tsunoda (11th) and Lance Stroll (13th) will start this weekend’s race from the back of the grid after taking new power unit elements. 2021 F1 MEXICO CITY GRAND PRIX – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1) POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m18.341s 2 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 1m18.417s 3 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing 1m18.464s 4 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing 1m18.610s 5 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m18.985s 6 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m19.463s 7 Fernando Alonso CHI Alpine F1 Team 1m19.656s 8 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow 1m19.667s 9 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team 1m19.795s 10 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m19.858s 11 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda 1m20.011s 12 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m20.026s 13 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team 1m20.030s 14 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team 1m20.273s 15 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team 1m20.301s 16 Antonio Giovinazzi GBR Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen 1m20.344s 17 George Russell ISR Williams Racing 1m20.517s 18 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing 1m21.580s 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m22.144s 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team 1m22.819s
Bottas wins wet Turkish GP as Verstappen takes championship lead
Valtteri Bottas won the Turkish Grand Prix, ending a year-long winless drought after leading most of the race from pole position. Max Verstappen finished second to take a six point lead in the championship, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, who finished fifth following a late pit stop.Rainfall earlier in the morning soaked the course with water, and light showers persisted throughout the day. All twenty cars started the race on the intermediate tyres. To their credit, it was a mostly clean opening lap – though not entirely without incident. Pierre Gasly picked up a five second time penalty for avoidable contact with Fernando Alonso at the first corner. Alonso, who dropped to the back of the field after a spin, then picked up a five second penalty of his own when he hit Mick Schumacher and spun the Haas driver out. All of the leaders were content to run their single set of intermediates, potentially as long as to the end of the race. That changed on lap 37, when Verstappen made a stop to switch to a new set of intermediates. Bottas pitted from the lead on the next lap. Aston Martin even felt confident enough to send Sebastian Vettel out on a set of medium compound slick tyres, but the track was still far too wet for the gamble to pay off at all. Charles Leclerc took the lead after Bottas’ pit stop. Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, and Esteban Ocon were the last of the front runners running on their first set of tyres. At the front, Leclerc began to haemorrhage time to Bottas on his worn set of intermediates, setting Bottas up for a chance to re-take the lead with a lunge up the inside of turn one on lap 47. Leclerc finally pitted at the end of the lap, and much to the seven-time world champion’s reluctance, Hamilton made his stop on lap 51. Hamilton continued to protest the decision to pit with eight laps to go. He dropped into fifth place behind Leclerc, with Gasly gaining on him in sixth. Hamilton could not make any forward progress as he suffered with graining in his new set of intermediates. Bottas, at the front, stretched his lead out to over ten seconds – and after spinning off five times in last year’s Turkish Grand Prix, he drove to a commanding first win of the 2021 season by 14.5 seconds; Verstappen finished second to take the championship lead, and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez finished in third, for his first podium since the French Grand Prix. Leclerc held on to fourth, ahead of Hamilton in fifth, Gasly sixth, and Lando Norris in seventh. Carlos Sainz Jnr was voted Driver of the Day are completing his drive from 19th on the grid after a pre-event power unit change, up into eighth place. Lance Stroll finished ninth and Esteban Ocon, the only driver to run the full distance without stopping, held off Antonio Giovinazzi for the final point in tenth. 2021 F1 TURKISH GRAND PRIX – RESULTS POS DRIVER NAT. TEAM TIME 1 Valtteri Bottas FIN Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team 58 Laps 2 Max Verstappen NED Red Bull Racing + 14.584s 3 Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull Racing + 33.471s 4 Charles Leclerc MON Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 37.471s 5 Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team + 41.812s 6 Pierre Gasly FRA Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda + 44.292s 7 Lando Norris GBR McLaren F1 Team + 47.213s 8 Carlos Sainz ESP Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow + 51.526s 9 Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 82.018s 10 Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine F1 Team + 1 Lap 11 Antonio Giovinazzi ITA Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 1 Lap 12 Kimi Raikkonen FIN Alfa Romeo Racing Orlen + 1 Lap 13 Daniel Ricciardo AUS McLaren F1 Team + 1 Lap 14 Yuki Tsunoda JPN Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda + 1 Lap 15 George Russell GBR Williams Racing + 1 Lap 16 Fernando Alonso ESP Alpine F1 Team + 1 Lap 17 Nicholas Latifi CAN Williams Racing + 1 Lap 18 Sebastian Vettel GER Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team + 1 Lap 19 Mick Schumacher GER Uralkali Haas F1 Team + 2 Laps 20 Nikita Mazepin RUS Uralkali Haas F1 Team + 2 Laps
Valtteri Bottas leads Mercedes 1-2 in Imola FP1
Valtteri Bottas fronted a Mercedes 1-2 during an eventful first practice session for Formula 1’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola.
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