F1 News
Bottas gets it: "He'd make a good doorman"
- GPblog.com
It will never be clear whether Valtteri Bottas was actually entirely responsible for Max Verstappen 's win in Mexico, but at least the Finn didn't make things difficult for the Dutchman. F1 expert Marc Priestley discusses Bottas' start and the criticism the Merceces driver received.
Bottas the gatekeeper
Bottas was more focused on his teammate Lewis Hamilton than Verstappen, which is why the Dutchman managed to take the lead from P3 as early as the first corner. Although Verstappen had a good chance to win the race even without this action in the first corner, Bottas was criticized for the way he kept the door open for Verstappen.
Priestley also discusses the start of the race in a live video at YouTube: "Let's start and look at the suggestions for another job for Bottas. I saw someone say, 'He should be a doorman, because he left the door wide open'."
Bottas made the wrong choice
Priestley decides to take the action more seriously after the joke: "Bottas made the wrong decision in that braking zone. They will be discussing this in detail as always." Priestley does think Bottas' steering towards Hamilton was a natural reaction in the braking zone.
"But in this scenario, Lewis was on the inside," he continued. "On the outside was Max. He (Bottas) moved to the inside, leaving the racing line open. If he had moved left and made the non-obvious choice, Max would have had to move aside."
Priestley nuanced the picture, stressing that Bottas should have acted particularly quickly. Yet it was the Finn's wrong choice. Priestley: "I miss the 'killer instinct' with Bottas."