Valtteri Bottas has stated that it was his ‘mission’ to hold up Sebastian Vettel during the Spanish Grand Prix to help out team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
On the opening lap of the race, Bottas was involved in a first corner incident with Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen and looked to have picked up some damage as a result of the collision.
As the laps unfolded, the Finn was struggling to keep pace with the leaders and the Mercedes team put Bottas on a different strategy, this was to try and interfere with Vettel’s race after he pitted first to try and undercut Hamilton.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, Bottas stated: “I was doing everything I could to keep Sebastian behind and make him lose time, that’s how it goes.
“That was my job and mission at that point. But the pace difference was too big and eventually he got past.”
“But I think I definitely helped the team today. I hope it made a bit of a difference today and at least we managed as a team to grow the small points difference to Ferrari which is good. But it could have been a lot bigger today with both of us finishing strong.”
Unfortunately for the Finn, a power unit failure put pay to his race on lap 38 ending his chances of another solid finish. Mercedes was helped out in the constructors’ championship due to Raikkonen’s retirement on the first lap when he collided with Verstappen, extending the gap over Ferrari seven points.
However, the drivers’ championship is looking more ominous for the Russian Grand Prix winner, now 41 points away from Vettel who leads the way going into next week’s Monaco Grand Prix.
