Toto Wolff says Valtteri Bottas Made a little mistake at the beginning of the Hungarian Grand Prix, a mistake that would have major consequences for both him and others entering the first corner.
Bottas got off to a bad start in that Hungary on a wet track and was on the rear foot in turn one. Unfortunately that is Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team The driver put the brakes on and drove into the rear McLaren F1 team‘S Lando Norris.
Norris then went in the side of Red Bull Racing‘S Max Verstappen, while Bottas beat the other Red Bull from Sergio Perez. Debris on the Hungaroring meant a red flag was required, but the stewards held Bottas fully responsible for the incident and gave him a five-seat start penalty for the Belgian Grand Prix.
“A difficult start for Valtteri, he had a spinning of the wheels and was trapped in the first corner and missed the braking point,” said Wolff, Mercedes team principal.
“One small mistake with big consequences and damage to several cars, and I’m sorry for McLaren and Red Bull – losing in an accident like this at the start of the race is hard to bear.”
On the other side of the garage Lewis Hamilton took a podium in Hungary despite being in the back of the field on the lap after the restart. Hamilton was the only driver in the field who didn’t enter the pit lane on restart, and it left a bizarre scene with only one car starting on the grid.
Hamilton then drove superbly to recover in the points and ended the battle for victory between Esteban Ocon and Sebastian Vettel when the checkered flag fell. When Vettel was finally disqualified, he finished second, but Wolff says he would stick to the decision not to pit in the opening lap if the scenario should apply again.
However, he feels that without the robust defense of Fernando Alonso, Hamilton would have had the time to catch up on the top duo and give himself the chance to win.
“We then had to make a decision when we restarted with Lewis and I am absolutely behind our decision to keep him out was absolutely the right decision for us, even if it was a bit lonely for him out there,” said Wolff.
“It would have been a gamble to pit from the front, the track tried incredibly quickly in the sun and it could have easily gone the other way, and then we would have looked stupid to have retracted it.
“It was a brave drive for Lewis to fight his way back through the field and victory was possible in the end, but Fernando [Alonso] strongly defended and maybe it wasn’t our day to win. “
The post “A small mistake with big consequences” – Wolff on Bottas’ Hungarian GP mistake first appeared on monter-une-startup.
