Antonelli owes Bottas after Spa victory: 'He can buy me dinner'
Photo: Race Pictures
10:04, 21 Jul
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Kada Sárközi joined GPblog as an editor ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season. He graduated with a BA in Sports Journalism in the UK and has covered Grands Prix and other F1 events live.
Valtteri Bottas believes Kimi Antonelli owes him a dinner after the Belgian Grand Prix, where the young Italian was victorious.
For the sixth time this season, Antonelli crossed the finish line in first place on Sunday at Spa-Francorchamps.
After a Virtual Safety Car, Charles Leclerc found himself ahead of the Mercedes driver, but Antonelli managed to retake the position from the Monegasque.
The overtake happened after they lapped Cadillac's Bottas as well. "I mean the rate they were closing was so quick, so it really caught me out. So, I don't know, did it make a difference? Did he get past after that?" the Finnish driver said to GPblog, among others, after the race.
As a result, Bottas knows how the Mercedes driver can pay him back. He added jokingly: "Yeah. Oh, okay. Kimi can buy me a dinner. So, no, I mean, just the closing speed really caught me off guard."
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Photo: Race Pictures
Bottas: 'Maybe we can do something in Hungary'
Cadillac is yet to score a point in its debut season, despite Sergio Perez coming close to a top-10 finish at the chaotic Monaco Grand Prix.
Looking ahead to next weekend at the Hungaroring, Bottas hopes Cadillac will have a better chance of challenging the teams ahead.
"I hope [it will be better]. It seems like it's not going to be extremely hot and it's mostly slow, medium-speed corners, and that's where we are lacking less compared to the others. So, hopefully, a bit better. And never know if you can get a good qualifying there, you can maybe do something."
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The Spa circuit demonstrated the Cadillac car's weaknesses: "At least we finished with one car, which means we can learn quite a lot from today. But I think today really highlights still the issues we have. For sure, it's still the reliability, but also our tyre degradation is quite big. And here I think it's because of the high-speed corners, we just don't have the load in the high-speed and that when we slide and we kill the tyres, but yeah something still to work on obviously."
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