“I told the team that I would be on the podium” – Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas have a great weekend in Italian Grand Prix, with a well-deserved third place on Sunday after starting from behind.

Bottas enjoyed one of his best weekends so far for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team In the Monza National Autodromeafter taking pole position on Friday and winning the second sprint qualifying on Saturday. Since the team had decided to take an engine penalty for the race on Sunday and demote Bottas to the end of the grid, a podium place seemed a difficult task.

However, the Finn showed a strong performance, quickly calved through the field and was right at the front during the first pit stops. Bottas, of course, had the advantage Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen each other out, but the driver leaving Mercedes at the end of the season has made sure he’s in the right position to capitalize on.

At one point, winning the Grand Prix seemed very likely, Bottas was more than a second faster than the winner of the race Daniel Ricciardo but unfortunately got stuck in the middle of the race Sergio Perez. by Red Bull Racing who took third place. This ended Bottas’ attack as he finished the race behind Pérez, who received a five-second penalty for gaining an unfair advantage while overtaking Charles Leclerc.

So it was third place for Bottas, who added decisive points to the Mercedes constructors’ balance sheet, the Finn is very satisfied with the weekend and is looking forward to it Russian Grand Prixwhere he’s been successful lately.

“I told the team I would be on the podium today, so I’m glad we did. A great recovery from me, I think I haven’t made up that many places in a race in my career. Starting from behind is never easy and in the end I’m happy that we scored more points than Red Bull today, especially considering where we were before the race. It’s been fun out there, some good overtaking maneuvers and some good races.

“The fight with Perez was good and I’m very happy with my result. Probably one of my better weekends with Mercedes. I think I’ve been strong all weekend, which is very satisfying. The crash with Lewis and Max is, of course, a shame – we lost important points there. I haven’t really seen the incident yet, but I’m glad to hear he’s fine. Now we have to look ahead and I hope to carry this momentum to Russia, a route on which I have ridden well in the past. “