Wolff "opening the sea" criticism "probably true" - Valtteri Bottas

Mercedes

Wolff "opening the sea" criticism "probably true" - Bottas

Bottas left space for Verstappen to move past both Mercedes drivers in Mexico last weekend

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Friday 12 November 2021 13:00

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Valtteri Bottas believes he could have done a "better job" at defending from Max Verstappen at the start of the Mexico City Grand Prix and conceded criticism from Toto Wolff was "probably true".

The Finn qualified on pole after a stunning lap at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez but on Sunday, allowed Lewis Hamilton's F1 title rival Verstappen to storm down the outside of both Mercedes' at turn one.

Verstappen subsequently went on to take a dominant victory and stretch his championship lead to 21 points, whilst Mercedes' gap to Red Bull was cut to a single point ahead of the final four races.

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In the aftermath of last weekend's race, team principal Wolff accused Bottas of "opening the sea" whilst Hamilton also suggested Verstappen was let through by his team-mate, criticism Bottas says was "probably true".

"If I am very honest to myself, if I look back... I make the point again that it is easy to say afterwards but probably, I could have done things differently but in that moment I thought I was making the right decision," said Bottas.

"If I could relive the moment, maybe there was a way to block Max or prevent him going outside and maybe he would have had a chance to go inside.

"I don't know, it is one of these things. At the moment, I tried my best, that is all I can do and I have obviously watched the videos and if I could be in the same situation again, maybe I could do a better job."

Bottas hoping for plenty of sprint action

Bottas was undoubtedly on top at the last sprint trial at Monza, where he took the fastest lap in qualifying, the victory in sprint before a charge from 19th to third in the grand prix after an engine penalty.

Assessing the final trial of the season at this weekend's São Paulo Grand Prix, Bottas commented: "I really hope in the sprint we will see plenty of action.

"It is never guaranteed and there are many factors but I hope we will see an exciting weekend.

"For me, personally, like in Monza, it is nice to know when you wake up [on Friday] it is going to be a day where it really matters with qualifying in the afternoon.

"I like the sprint format and I hope it is going to be entertaining."