Bottas lacked the "small details" to beat Hamilton and Verstappen

Valtteri Bottas highlighted the "small details" he and Mercedes lacked on the way to finishing third at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Finn fell behind Charles Leclerc at the start and at a track notoriously difficult to overtake had to wait until the first pit-stop window to leapfrog the Ferrari.

After losing vital ground to team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen behind Leclerc, Bottas insisted his pace at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was strong.

"I think what made it tricky for me is I lost the place to Charles on lap one at turn three," explained Bottas.

"I didn't see him actually so he got the better line and went past me and then I was stuck behind him for a while and compromised the race. Otherwise, the pace wasn't too bad so a bit of a shame."

"I think it is just small details today like lap one at turn three. Otherwise, the pace is there. As a team, we are scoring solid points but not perfect points so there is work to do."

The result promotes Bottas to third in the championship but the gap to leader Hamilton has increased to 47 points.

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