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Bottas: Cried like a baby after Baku retirement

Bottas: "Cried like a baby" after Baku retirement

23-12-2018 15:37
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Nicolás Quarles van Ufford

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has admitted that he cried after his dramatic retirement during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier this season. The Finn hit debris and punctured his tyre in the final stages of that race when he was seemingly on his way to his first win of the season.

Bottas led the Grand Prix quite comfortably after a Sebastian Vettel divebomb had failed quite badly, as the German even ended up giving up a position to Lewis Hamilton instead of gaining one. Bottas then hit a big piece of debris left by a Haas car and punctured his right rear tyre, making it impossible for him to even get back to the pitlane. 

If he would've won that race, he would've risen to the top of the championship at that point as well, making it all the more sad for him.

“I thought it was one my best races I have done,” the 29-year-old told Mercedes in a year-review on their website.

“I didn’t lead for a long time but I managed to fight myself up to the lead of the race.

“I remember just before the moment I had such good confidence and I felt everything was under control. I knew I’m going to take a little bit of luck and win the race but I hit some debris on the main straight which I didn’t see and had a puncture and the race finished there.”

As Bottas had come very close to winning the previous two races in China and Bahrain as well, finishing second in both instances, the puncture came like a hammer-blow for him.

“A couple of races before that I nearly won, I was second a couple of times, and so I was really looking forward to winning my first race of the year but it never happened.

“Afterwards I could see the disappointment in the whole team. I got a lot of support from everyone.

“When I got back to the hotel I crashed completely, I dropped on my knees and I was crying like a small baby. But then I got up and decided one failure is not going to put me down.”