Wolff on Bottas crash: "An unfortunate mistake with great consequences"

Now that the last race of the first half of the season is finished we are getting closer to the moment that Mercedes' has announced who will sit in the seat next to Lewis Hamilton next year. The rumours have been abounding for months and the fact that George Russell took on the 2022 tyre test on behalf of Mercedes after the Hungarian Grand Prix only served to fuel the rumour mill.

Seat 2022

That Valtteri Bottas himself did not have his best day during the race at the Hungaroring is obvious. He caused a crash that cut short the races of many of Mercedes' direct competitors. The timing for the Finn's failure is not great, with all camps within the team indicating that no decision has been made on the free seat for 2022.

Team boss Toto Wolff, however, indicates Motorsport.com that the incident during the race in Hungary will not affect the decision. "No, it was an unfortunate mistake with big consequences. He ended up sandwiching with the two cars in front of him, lost all downforce and then it was already too late. It will have absolutely no bearing on the decision."

Bottas culpable

The Finn himself is guilt-ridden but remains combative. "I felt like the last couple of races were going a bit better, with a couple of podiums. But I'm now on three DNFs this year, which have cost quite a few points, so that's not so great. However, we're not even half way through the races yet, so we'll keep going."