Albers thanks Bottas: "The start of Max was not so great at all"

Valtteri Bottas was a little more focused on his teammate Lewis Hamilton at the race start in Mexico than on rival Max Verstappen, which contributed to the quick overtaking by the Dutchman. Christijan Albers sees that Verstappen didn't have a very good start at all.

Red Bull Racing proved so fast during the race in Mexico that they probably would have won even if Verstappen didn't go past both Mercedes cars at the first corner. It did save time and risk later in the race.

Toto Wolff and Lewis Hamilton have already criticized Bottas, as the Finn squeezed Hamilton on the start straight, opening the door for Verstappen. Hamilton apologized for reproaches he made. Former F1 driver Christijan Albers still thinks Bottas did not act smartly.

At the Formula 1 podcast of De Telegraaf he starts: "It was a nice race until the first two corners." Max Verstappen was away after that and only relinquished the lead for a few laps at the pit stop.

Albers explains what happened: "Bottas squeezed Lewis, because Lewis had a good start. Why, I don't care. He joins Lewis and is way too close, leaving a gap to the left. Max has all the time in the world to get into the slipstream and then put him alongside."

"Max's start wasn't that great at all," Albers concludes. "Lewis' start was good, Bottas' was reasonable or close to good. But Bottas left a meter too much space."