Raikkonen's plan to pacify Bottas...

Raikkonen's plan to pacify Bottas? 'A few beers'

Joas van Wingerden

Monday 1 October 2018 12:57

Kimi Raikkonen says "a few beers" might help to soothe the pain Valtteri Bottas is feeling after having a likely Russian Grand Prix victory taken away from him by his Mercedes team. The Silver Arrows ordered Bottas aside to let Lewis Hamilton win in Sochi, with an eye on the driver' championship.

Mercedes detected tyre damage on Hamilton's car after an on-track scrap with title rival Sebastian Vettel and ordered Bottas to let his team-mate through for fear of the German taking advantage.

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Bottas was crestfallen at the end of the race, while Hamilton admitted the victory felt hollow, but Raikkonen was characteristically unmoved by the race's main talking point.

Raikkonen said: "It's not ideal, but that's how it goes in life, there's nothing you can do about it."

Asked how he would motivate Bottas, Raikkonen said: "I don't know, maybe with a few beers."

Raikkonen ran longer than Vettel and the Mercedes pair on his opening stint, but it did not pay off as he had to settle for the fourth place he had started the race with.

"We went as fast as we could but [Mercedes] were faster," Raikkonen said.

"We're a bit behind in pure speed, but in the race the car feels okay. But we need to go a bit faster everywhere.

"Who knows what they've done. Let's see in the next race if it's still the same or not.

"Hopefully it's a slightly different story, more like it was a little while ago. I guess they found something."

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