Mercedes backs Bottas: 'Verstappen also had trouble overtaking Hamilton'

Valtteri Bottas drove a colourless race at the United States Grand Prix. The Finnish Mercedes driver finished only P6 as he struggled to overtake. Mercedes is standing up for Bottas, saying that it wasn't just Bottas who had trouble overtaking at COTA.

There are only five races left for Bottas with his current employer. Next year the Finn moves to Alfa Romeo. It doesn't look like Bottas will have a spectacular farewell. In America, he performed below par.

Mercedes chief strategist James Vowles speaks up for Bottas and puts Bottas' form in perspective. On YouTube he discusses why Bottas was struggling to overtake his rivals even with DRS: "It wasn't unique for Valtteri. You saw this up and down the field."

One place where Vowles also saw overtaking was upfront with Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton: "In the first stint, Verstappen was only seven-tenths behind Lewis for the whole stint. He was clearly faster, but couldn't overtake." At the end of the race, the roles were reversed according to Vowles. Then Hamilton failed to catch Verstappen.

According to Vowles, the reason Bottas was having such a hard time getting past his competitors is a simple matter of overheating of the tyres. In Austin, this is a bigger problem than at other tracks and everybody suffered from it.