Valtteri Bottas criticises Charles Leclerc for "unnecessary" move in Hungarian GP

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has criticised Ferrari star Charles Leclerc for a first-lap move at the Hungarian Grand Prix that damaged the Finn's front wing, deeming it "completely unnecessary".

Bottas suffered damage to his front right endplate following the Ferrari of Leclerc clipping the Mercedes. The Finn tried to keep going, but a few laps later, he was forced to pit and drop all the way down to P20.

"I was on the outside of (Max) Verstappen, so I tried to brake late, tried to go for the outside," Bottas said. "He braked late as well, so I had a bit of a lock-up, so that caused a bit of a flat spot, so going into Turn 2, I had some understeer because of that.

Bottas drove a solid race and climbed 12 places from the rear of the grid and finished in eighth-place.