First F1 win ‘surreal’, says Bottas post Russian GP triumph

Lewis Hamilton shrugged off a disappointing Russian Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday, with Ferrari sweeping the front row for the first time in almost nine years, as “just one of those weekends”. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo, a common sight in the top five, retired early after his cars brakes caught fire.

Soon after, he was instructed by his team to drive slowly to the pits, where he was withdrawn from the race. McLaren, despite the woeful performance it’s suffered since teaming up with Honda for the 2015 season, will also stick with the Japanese firm’s power units in 2018.

Bottas’s first F1 victory in last weekend’s Russian Grand Prix prompted warm congratulations from other drivers, but he expects the pleasantries will be shortlived.

Hamilton dropped 13 points behind Vettel in the drivers’ championship following the result in Russian Federation, with Bottas only 10 points behind his team-mate in third place.

“Why is my vehicle overheating?” he asked, only to be told that his teammate had the same issues but was in clear air.

While Bottas made a great start, leading the pack into the first corner, Hamilton lost out to the Ferraris and over the course of the next 51 laps his frustration was obvious as he queried team instructions about auto temperatures and even strategy.

As the second stint wore on, Vettel again was able to reel Bottas in. He returned in second, behind the leader and, with a 4.7-second deficit, attempted to cut into the gap with fresher tyres. The other Williams driver Lance Stroll was not among points as he finished 11th, just outside the points bracket. The Mercedes drivers ended up in third and fourth, respectively, with a lap time of 1:33.289 for Bottas and 1.33:767 for Hamilton. This provides Mercedes with a mighty problem in that they can not justify team orders if Bottas is doing the business on the track.

“It doesn’t matter, though”.

Lewis was one of the first to congratulate Valtteri. “It is his day”. “Mercedes, Valtteri was a bit too fast but then we were kind of holding our positions but nothing really happened the whole race, so, yeah, all about the start”.

“Took quite a while, huh?”, said the Finn over the radio. It was a odd opportunity for me to join this team and they (Mercedes) made it possible, so I would like to thank them and the team, it would have not been possible. We just need to sort out the interaction between the vehicle, the driver and tires.