F1 News
Wolff defends Bottas after a bad race: 'The combination works well for the team'
- GPblog.com
Valtteri Bottas had a 'perfect storm' of issues in the Turkish Grand Prix according to Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff. Bottas had a weekend to quickly forget in Turkey.
Heavy race
A combination of new asphalt and heavy rainfall on Saturday and Sunday made the Turkish Grand Prix one of the toughest races of the year for many drivers. Bottas was one of the drivers that was visibly struggling at Istanbul Park. The Finn qualified ninth and dropped to fourteenth position in the race after a total of six spins.
"I think he suffered from what many other drivers suffered that the tyres were simply never in the right temperature window", Wolff explains at MotorsportWeek.com. "There were other drivers, I think Max [Verstappen] spun three times and god knows how many others [also had spins]."
The right choice
According to Wolff it is difficult to get out of the downward spiral once you are in it. "I think this is everything came together for him – the perfect storm", Wolff continues. The Austrian defends his choice to keep Bottas as a driver alongside Lewis Hamilton.
"When Lewis has a bad day then Valtteri pulls it off and the other way round, Valtteri had a very bad day and Lewis wins the race. I think the combination works really well for the team", Wolff explains.