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Valtteri Bottas had another career to forget. After starting from pole at the Emilia-Romagna GP, the Finn led until he stopped to change tires, the car’s performance suffered and was even overtaken by Max Verstappen. In the end, he returned to second position with the Dutchman leaving, but there was no way to attack Lewis Hamilton, who won for the ninth time of the year. Bottas’ difficulty at Imola was due to Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari debris getting stuck in the Mercedes floor.
+ Championship standings
+ Hamilton can already be champion in Turkey
The Mercedes mechanic shows a part of Vettel’s car that got stuck in Bottas’s floor – Photo: Disclosure
– The start was good and it was one of the main things to do well today. On the second lap, suddenly, coming out of Turn 7, there was some debris. I didn’t have time to avoid them. At least I aimed for the middle of the car and tried not to go over the tires. But obviously it caused some damage or something that made the car difficult to drive – lamented the vice-championship leader, 85 points from Hamilton.
At the first tire change, Mercedes was unable to remove the debris that was stuck. Still struggling to control the car, Bottas made three small escapes from the track and could not resist Max Verstappen’s attack. Only during the driveway of the safety car to remove the RBR from the Dutchman, who stopped in the gravel box with a flat tire, was Mercedes able to remove the floor piece from Bottas’ car:
– I was pushing hard to prevent Max from overtaking me. I had to push beyond my limits and that led to a mistake, so I was out of luck.
Bottas fails again and loses second place to Max Vestappen at the Emilia Romagna GP
With 85 points behind Hamilton and just 104 up for grabs in the final four races of the season, Bottas will be able to see his fellow seven-time champion at the next race in Istanbul, Turkey. The Englishman only needs a win or a second place with the fastest lap. Anyway, Bottas would still need to leave Istanbul within 78 points of his rival to postpone the decision.
Bottas, Hamilton and Ricciardo on the podium at Imola – Photo: Getty Images
