Bottas' bad start is not an isolated case: 'The scenario was quite simple'

Valtteri Bottas has been known to react quickly at the start of the race in the past. However, this season that has not been the case, according to James Vowles, because of a change in his car.

The Finn used a standard steering wheel in the past, while Lewis Hamilton developed a different solution in the clutch control to get a better start. Bottas, however, took two thimbles for the clutch lever this season that are not horizontal, but angled downwards and it may have had an effect on Bottas' starts.

In doing so, Vowles points to the start at the Mexico GP. "The scenario was quite simple: if Valtteri had had a good start, he would have had to pull on Lewis' slipstream to protect him from a possible attack by Verstappen," Mercedes' Chief Strategist told Motorsport.com.

"At the start, Max and Lewis had a slightly better start than Valtteri, and as a result Lewis was unable to position himself behind his teammate."

Disappointment for Mercedes

It resulted in Hamilton and Bottas losing their good starting positions. "The difference in braking should have been a few meters. I didn't expect the gap we saw. The drivers were braking where they saw fit and after the race Max explained that he was also taking risks, which worked really well. That's where we lost the race."