Bottas struggled at Paul Ricard in the final stages of the race after pitting the first of the leaders in the pits, so that he had to complete a long stint on the hard compound tire.
Bottas was overtaken by Max Verstappen with 10 laps to go after Red Bull put the Dutchman on a two-stop strategy that would ultimately win him the race.
Mercedes stuck to a one-stop strategy for Bottas, much to his displeasure, when he vented his frustration on the team radio and asked the team, “Why the hell didn’t anyone listen to me when I said it was a two-stopper? “
Bottas told his engineer shortly thereafter that his tires were “damned ready” before he was overtaken by Sergio Perez, which put him in fourth place on the checkered flag.
Bottas said after the race in the media pen that he did not think that he had gone too far with his original message and that he simply “made very clear what I was thinking”.
But Mercedes team boss Wolff had no problem with Bottas making his thoughts public and saying it was good that he didn’t keep it in bottles.
“I thought it was great that he is now giving his opinion and not internalizing it,” said Wolff. “We still believe that the one-stop was the better strategy.
Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, in the box
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
“But in our tough fight after the stop, we just stretched the tire, putting too much strain on the tires to get through to the end.”
Bottas claimed after the race that a two-stop strategy would have put him in the battle for victory after running close to Verstappen and Hamilton in the first half of the race.
Wolff was pleased with Bottas’ performance despite his late lag in fourth place and believed that he has made decent progress in his racing performances lately.
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“I still think he did a good race, to be honest, because he was at the front with Lewis and Max for long stretches of the race,” said Wolff.
“I think development is going in the right direction, to be honest. Yes, there is still a part or a gap in tire management [to Hamilton]. But we’ll look at that in detail over the next few days.
“But I see real progress in the way Valtteri approaches the races and qualifying, we have never doubted that.”
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