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Finnish Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas walks after Sakhir’s Formula One Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit in the city of Sakhir on December 6, 2020.- Mexican Sergio Pérez claimed his first Formula One victory in a spectacular Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain on Sunday. . The 30-year-old Racing Point driver won for the first time in his 194th race. (Photo by Giuseppe CACACE / POOL / AFP)
Valtteri Bottas admitted he was made to look “like a fool” at Sunday’s Sakhir Grand Prix when Lewis Hamilton’s replacement George Russell beat him with stellar momentum, albeit without reward.
The Mercedes pair finished eighth and ninth, with Bottas ahead, after an action-packed race, but it was Russell who shone, as an impressive first win was snatched from him after a failed pit stop and a late puncture.
Bottas, who started from pole position, lost the lead early on and struggled to mount a challenge as the young Brit, replacing COVID-19 victim Hamilton, showed pace and poise at the front for 62 laps.
“If you don’t know things, he might have seemed like a complete fool, so that’s not pretty,” Bottas said.
“But people who know, know what the performance was like and how the end result could have been.
“It was a pretty bad race for me and it’s easy for people to say a new guy comes in and beats the guy who’s been on the team for a few years, so it wasn’t ideal.
“I knew on the first stint, on the medium tire, track position would be important, so obviously it was a shame to lose that.
“But in the second period, he was catching up at a pretty decent rate.”
Bottas’ attempt to answer Russell was undone when they both pitted during a safety car period and Mercedes blew their tires.
“It’s hard to explain the feeling when you come to a pit stop and you go on the same old tires that you came in with, and then you lose positions,” said the Finn.
“Obviously a big mistake from the team to be analyzed and learned from – it was a nightmare to be with old tires that had lost temperature. I was like an easy duck. “
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