Mercedes understands it should have listened to me as F1 is 'no tea party' - Valtteri Bottas

Bottas, Mercedes, Azerbaijan — Photo: © LAT Images

Styrian Grand Prix

Mercedes understands it should have listened to me as F1 is 'no tea party' - Bottas

Bottas finished fourth in France after Mercedes ignored calls for a second stop

Ian Parkes & Sam Hall

Friday 25 June 2021 09:29 Updated: 10:52

Valtteri Bottas is confident Mercedes will listen to him in future after the team ignored his pleas in France that sparked a four-letter radio rant.

Before Max Verstappen forfeited the lead of the race at the Paul Ricard Circuit by making a second stop, Bottas had complained about high levels of graining on his tyres and requested a fresh set of rubber of his own.

Mercedes, however, denied the requests, sparking an angry outburst from Bottas later in the race.

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Following talks over the intervening days, Bottas feels there will be no repeat of what unfolded in France.

“As a driver, in terms of communication, feedback and requests, you always learn and I maybe need to be more direct," said Bottas.

"But I feel like they understood that they should listen and like I said, we live and learn. I think in the future, things will be better.”

The Finn eventually finished fourth in the race won by the two-stopping Verstappen.

Asked if he was happier with the decision now there had been time for the team to explain its decision-making process to him, Bottas added: “I think happier is not maybe the right word but I understand more things.

"Obviously, when you are in the car you have a limited view on the race situation so it was important to go through everything as we always do.

“So I do understand the situation better but still the fact is in the situation where I was with my tyres at that point, it was suboptimal but we can’t go back in time and we always keep on learning."

Bottas "glad" Wolff liked his passion

Post-race, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said he "loved" Bottas' outbursts of passion over the radio, although the 31-year-old claims such remarks were not "anything new".

"I always try to be incredibly direct and I’m glad if he liked it but I wasn’t happy obviously in that situation," added Bottas.

“But that is racing. There are emotions. It is so hard to describe the feeling when you are in the car and we are not at a tea party.

"We are in an elite top-level sport and I want to do well and want the team to do well so there are emotions even for a Finn.”