F1 News
Bottas did "perfect job" slowing field before pit-stop, Mercedes claim
Bobby Vincent
Mercedes are adamant Valtteri Bottas did everything in his power to ensure he didn't lose a track position when the Silver Arrows pitted both of its drivers under the safety car during the Monaco Grand Prix.
Bottas was a place behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the time, and he slowed the field down as they approached the pits, to ensure Mercedes had enough time to work its magic on Hamilton's car beforehand.
However, Mercedes motorsport strategy director, James Vowles, revealed Hamilton hit a wheel gun as he left the pit-box, causing a delay to Bottas' tyre change.
“When you come in for a ‘double stack’ Safety Car [pit stop], what’s really important is making a gap between your cars so that the first car can be serviced in the pit lane and the second one can slot straight in,” Vowles said. “And Valtteri did that perfectly on track.
“Lewis had his pit stop, drove out and you would’ve seen Valtteri came straight back in again. And now it’s a straight race between Vettel, Verstappen and Valtteri for a pit stop. Unfortunately as Lewis left, he clipped one of the guns and it took just a few seconds for them to reset properly and the cost to us was a couple of tenths. That’s it, but that’s all you need.”
