Mercedes explains Valtteri Bottas Russian GP struggles

Russian Grand Prix

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Mercedes explains Bottas Russian GP struggles

Bottas initially found overtaking difficult before securing a top five at Sochi

Ewan Gale

Wednesday 29 September 2021 15:09

Mercedes technical director Mike Elliott has explained the difficulties faced by Valtteri Bottas on his way to P5 in the Russian Grand Prix.

Bottas started way down the grid after a late engine change by Mercedes at Sochi but was unable to make an impression on the cars around him.

In stark contrast, Red Bull's Max Verstappen made impressive progress through the field, sitting in the top seven at the time rainfall created chaos in the final laps.

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The Finn had scythed through the field to claim P3 at Monza and explaining why circumstances were different in Russia, Elliott said: “First of all, Valtteri had a fantastic drive in Monza. It was amazing what he was able to achieve.

"This race was different though, it was harder and the reason it was harder is because of what we were seeing with DRS trains.

"What I mean by that is one car at the front with a number of cars behind all within that one-second delta that allows them all to have DRS.

"As a consequence of that, even though Valtteri has got more pace the car in front also has that same advantage of DRS and it makes it much more difficult to overtake.

"We saw that up and down the grid with people stuck in those positions, unable to get past because of those trains.

Adding that the car balance was not optimised on the W12, Elliott continued: "On top of that Valtteri, was also struggling with an amount of understeer in the car and because of that he was struggling in sector 3 primarily.

"What that leads to is that leads to a position where it is very difficult to get close to the car in front and as a consequence of that, when you get onto the straight you don’t get the full benefit of the tow because you are just too far behind.

"By the time you are really sort of catching up you are already too close to the end of the straight to make that pass.”

How Bottas secured top five finish

Despite his troubles, Bottas was able to take advantage of the dramatic closing stages to launch himself into the top five as his competitors struggled around him.

Detailing the events that led to the rescued result, Elliott added: "We made the right strategy, we got Valtteri onto the intermediates at the right time.

"Prior to the rain coming I think we were in twelfth position, we were outside of the points and when that rain came down that gave us an opportunity.

"Between the strategists and Valtteri they made exactly the right call, we fitted the Intermediates and we were able to pass by others cars who were struggling on the track when they came in to the pit for the Intermediates themselves.

"As a result, Valtteri ended up back in P5 which is a great result for the team.”