Hamilton's pit stop to blame for Bottas' pit lane incident
F1 News
Valtteri Bottas may have been able to salvage third place after pitting an extra time at the Monaco Grand Prix, but it has been revealed that Lewis Hamilton may have been responsible in part for the pit lane incident between the Finn and Max Verstappen.
Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for an unsafe release after a coming together between him and Bottas in the pit lane when they both pitted under the safety car. Bottas was forced to pit again and changed to the hard tyres, whilst Verstappen chased down Lewis Hamilton.
When the Mercedes team double stacked their drivers they weren't expecting the crash of Bottas and Verstappen but it may have been caused by the eventual race winner, Hamilton.
“If you can stop under a safety car in Monaco, it really is the best of all worlds,” said James Vowles in Mercedes’ latest Pure Pit Wall debrief.
"When you come in for a double-stack safety car [stop], what’s really important is making a gap between your cars, so that the first car can be serviced in the pitlane and the second one can slot straight in and Valtteri did that perfectly on track.
"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.”