Valtteri Bottas fumes at Mercedes in French GP – ‘Why the f*** does no-one listen to me?’
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Valtteri Bottas was left fuming over the Mercedes team radio during the French Grand Prix, after losing his second-placed position to Max Verstappen in the latter part of the race, after Red Bull opted for a two-stop strategy over their main title rivals.
Bottas was heard shouting to his engineer “Why the f*** does nobody listen to me when I say it’s going to be a two-stopper? f***ing hell” as his team-mate Hamilton led the race.
The Finn, who started second on the grid, was left struggling on the hard tyre for the final few laps of the race, with Verstappen pitting onto the medium compound of the tyre to take the fight to Mercedes.
And it worked, as the championship leader coming into the race swept past the Finn, before his team-mate Sergio Perez did the same a few laps later, despite also being on the hard tyre.
“My tyres are f***ing finished,” said Bottas. “Copy, we understand” came the reply from his engineer.
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Coming into the race weekend, Botta, who qualified third said” It’s been a strong weekend and for sure a lot better than a couple of weeks ago.
“At least the pace has been there. We’ve seen that it’s going to be close with Red Bull as it was today.
“Of course we can’t be too happy being third but I think Red Bull was faster today. The first lap in Q3 I had a bit of a snap at Turn Two.
“That was that. The second lap, I’m keen to find out where we lack some speed.”
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The undercut saw Verstappen sweep past Hamilton on the penultimate lap, and extend his lead at the top of the standings by 12 points with victory in France after a thrilling battle between Mercedes and Red Bull.
Verstappen opted for a two-stop strategy ending the race on the medium tyre, with Hamilton coming home second, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in third.
An elated team boss Christian Horner was heard over the radio congratulations Verstappen: “Well done mate, payback, great job”
The Dutchman replied: “What a race man, thank you so much,” after struggling with his team radio for much of the race.
Bottas had slipped down to sixth in the driver standings, coming home fourth in France as his team-mate battled for the lead out front.
Mercedes were hoping for a strong weekend at Paul Ricard, after races in Monaco and Baku which saw them score just seven points in the championship.
Yet with Hamilton starting second, and his team-mate Valtteri Bottas in third, things looked to have turned around for the seven-time champions.