Valtteri Bottas hopes for Mercedes Silverstone fight-back against Red Bull

Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstapping spraying champagne on the podium. — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

Bottas hopes for Mercedes Silverstone fight-back against Red Bull

Mercedes is 44 points adrift of Red Bull

Ewan Gale

Tuesday 13 July 2021 09:30

Valtteri Bottas is hoping the higher-speed Silverstone layout will help Mercedes strike back against Red Bull at this weekend's British Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have shared wins across the last five races to stamp Red Bull as favourites for both F1 titles this year with Mercedes having no answer for their rivals during this period.

On the test Mercedes faces to take an eighth championship in a row, Bottas said: "It’s a challenge but, you know, but we’ve been racing on the same track for two weeks and it is clear Red Bull was faster [in Austria] – but it could be different on some other tracks.

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"I think [the Red Bull Ring] track suits their car pretty well, but they’re not slow anywhere else. Silverstone is completely different. There are a lot more high-speed corners and so, we’ll see.

"We have something planned in terms of new bits for Silverstone. I think after that it will be quiet in terms of new parts but we’ll keep pushing as hard as we can – but we know it’s going to be tough."

Bottas satisfied by recent damage-limitation

Verstappen dominated the Austrian double-header but despite seeing the margin to Red Bull widen to 44 points, Bottas remains pleased with Mercedes' damage limitation.

"I think it would be promising if we can make a step forwards and close the gap [at Silverstone]," he added.

"Honestly if we look at the two weeks as a whole, I think we’ve made some good damage-limitation against Red Bull considering they were clearly faster."