Valtteri Bottas has spoken out against Mercedes‘ decision to not pit a second time during the French Grand Prix after he suffered from tyre wear towards the end of the race.
This led him to finish the race in fourth place.
Bottas lost his podium place after he was overtaken by Red Bull drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. He also thinks that Mercedes had got their strategy wrong.
Red Bull was smarter
“I think Red Bull got more points than us today I think that they were a bit smarter with their strategy,” Bottas said in an interview with Ziggo Sport. “We should have done a two-stop strategy so we need to look into it.”
According to team boss Toto Wolff, Bottas had to pit early due to vibration issues and almost losing out on a tyre.
However, the Finn reckons that his first pitstop compromised his entire race.
Should have done a two-stop
“The early stop compromised it all and by stopping that early we should have done a two-stop,” Bottas said.
“The last 10 to 15 laps I had nothing left. That’s why it was so tricky. For us the front tyre wear was very high and I don’t know why.”
Bottas also revealed his radio calls to his team asking them to copy Max Verstappen’s two-stop winning strategy. However, the team decided to go with one-stop.
“I was making it very clear what I was thinking,” said Bottas. “I suggested a two-stop earlier in the race and the team decided to go for one-stop.”
Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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I think they should have stopped twice too they didn’t have the tyres at the end and that is why they lost pole but what do I know