F1 News
Mercedes explains why Bottas had a slow pitstop in the Monaco GP
Mercedes has stated that a mistake with Lewis Hamilton's pitstop subsequently led to a long stop for Valtteri Bottas during the 2019 Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix. This delay led the incident in the pitlane between Bottas and Max Verstappen.
The safety car was deployed on lap 10 and Mercedes decided to take a free pitstop on both cars. Bottas eased off the gas to give himself a big enough gap from Hamilton, and also slow down Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel in the same process.
In their post-Grand Prix debrief, Mercedes team member James Vowles stated why Bottas had a slow stop.
"Lewis had his pitstop, drove out, and you would've seen Valtteri come straight back in again. And now it's a straight race between Vettel, Verstappen and Valtteri for a pitstop," he said in the video.
"Unfortunately as Lewis left, he clipped one of the guns and it took just a few seconds for them to reset properly and the cost to us was a couple of tenths. That's it, but that's all you need."
Bottas left the pits but was caught in a tangle with Verstappen. Red Bull was punished for the unsafe release, dropping Verstappen down and lifting the Mercedes driver onto the podium.