Mercedes pitstop error "cost Bottas a possible second place"

Lewis Hamilton and Valterri Bottas experienced a completely different race on Sunday afternoon. While the seven-time world champion won the race in battle with Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen, Bottas had to make do with third place and street length behind the front runners at Mercedes.

Afterwards, the Finnish driver was not satisfied with the way his team approached the race for him. Bottas felt that Mercedes chose the wrong strategy, which ultimately left him with no way to take the win. His team then reacted disapprovingly to the comment.

Lawrence Barretto makes an analysis of both drivers on Formula1.com. "Valtteri Bottas may have set the fastest race lap, but a poor pit stop - which took 10.9 seconds - cost him a possible second place. The Finn showed flashes of pace in the Grand Prix, sometimes going around faster than teammate Hamilton on the hard tyres, but he didn't make up for the time lost on the pit stop."

In contrast, Hamilton was very pleased with his team on Sunday afternoon. The undercut on Verstappen allowed Mercedes to put Hamilton in front. It was a struggle for Hamilton at the end of the race, but he managed to keep the Dutch driver behind him until the finish.

"This was a race win Lewis Hamilton really had to fight for, which explains why he was in a contagiously happy mood after the race. The seven-time world champion knew his Mercedes team were on their heels coming into Bahrain, and he wasn't exactly elated after losing to Max Verstappen in qualifying. But in the race his team had the right strategy,'' Barretto concluded.