Toto Wolff was unhappy with Valtteri Bottas’ defence at the Mexican GP, saying that he should have done better.
Bottas started on pole position, but conceded the position to Verstappen on Turn 1. It was a very meek effort, and the Dutchman got past him with minimum effort.
That proved to be a critical aspect of the race, as it was all Verstappen from then on. He strolled to take a victory, leaving Mercedes in a very tough spot with four races to go. Bottas was nowhere in the points, having been hit by Ricciardo and tumbled down the order.
Wolff was unhappy with Bottas’ defence at the Mexican GP, and said that it cost them a lot of points in their pursuit for the championships.
“Yeah that should not happen,” he said, as quoted by Crash.
“I think we had two cars in front and we seemed to open up the sea for Max to come around the outside.
“The spin afterwards and the complete loss of points with Valtteri’s car when it could have been a third or fourth place is annoying to say the least.”
Not their finest hour
Wolff also lamented his team’s lack of pace, and stated that they were second-best from minute one. He admitted that they could not have matched their rivals’ pace, even if Bottas hadn’t made that mistake.
“They could have driven circles around us around the pit stops,” he continued.
“In the end, for Lewis’ (Hamilton’s) championship, it was damage limitation.”
The race saw Hamilton take second place after stubbornly defending against a much-quicker Red Bull behind him. However, Verstappen extended his lead to 19 points, a tally that is starting to look difficult to chase.
Nevertheless, four races remain for Hamilton to try and beat his rival. He will have to be on the front foot to overturn the deficit.
Read more: Bottas believes Mercedes is slowly ironing out early-season problems