Valtteri Bottas suffered another disappointing weekend in Sakhir as he could only manage P8, through a mix of his own mistakes and bad luck. Timo Glock and Ralf Schumacher believe the dual with Russell may have really dented his confidence.
Bottas has been an excellent second man alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes in recent years. However, the Finn has been unable to mount a serious title challenge in any of his seasons at Mercedes. The fact that he was outclassed by Russell on Sunday must have hurt. Ralf Schumacher and Timo Glock both see it as a mental blow.
Bottas mentally broken
''This is, of course, a huge blow to him. He should be happy now that he has a contract, but who knows. Formula 1 goes very fast and a contract doesn't always have to mean that your seat is safe. Maybe we will see a big surprise. He also seems a bit frustrated and he's not as aggressive as he used to be at the moment," said Schumacher.
Glock believes the duel with Russell may have really broken him. ''This was another point and it could have broken him. Of course that hurts a lot inside. At some point he will realise that he can do whatever he wants. He can lock himself up in Finland for three months, but even then he can't break Hamilton. Having to accept that will be very difficult for Bottas and gives him a big crush," added Glock according to Motorsport-total.com.