Valtteri Bottas takes full responsibility for the “mess” of the Hungarian GP

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Valtteri Bottas took full responsibility for the chaos of the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix, which ended his race and that of several other drivers and turned the race around.

Bottas escaped slowly on the wet track, then missed his braking point at Turn 1, hitting McLaren’s Lando Norris in the process. Norris’ car brought together the pair of Red Bulls Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez.

Further on, Lance Stroll took evasive action to avoid the chaos and made it over the top of Turn 1, hitting Charles Leclerc in the process.

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The incident ended Bottas, Stroll, Norris, Leclerc and Perez’s race on the spot.

Stewards have found Bottas and Stroll fully responsible for their respective collisions and the two will serve a five-place penalty on the Belgian Grand Prix grid.

Speaking after the race, Bottas said: “Obviously my mistake was me coming from behind and then you have to brake soon enough.

Valtteri Bottas caused the pile-up in the first lap of the Hungarian Grand Prix. PETER KOHALMI / POOL / AFP via Getty Images

“But I misjudged it, which shows that things are not so easy to predict under these conditions, and I should have braked early, because when I started to brake I was getting closer, I stuck the wheels, I hit Lando and that caused the whole mess, so my error in judgment, my mistake. “

Several hours after the race, Bottas tweeted to reiterate that he was not looking for any excuse.

Bottas apologized to the drivers involved in the pileup, but Norris said this kind of incident shouldn’t happen at the highest level of motor racing.

“We are all in Formula 1 for a reason, because we are good drivers and we know where to brake, where to judge the braking zones etc., especially when it rains, especially on the first lap of the race.”

“But obviously some people misjudged it completely. That’s the annoying thing, you expect a little bit more when you go up against these better guys at the front of the pack.

“But they don’t run as often, they’re on their own, and they’re not in the pack, in dirty air and things as much as we are. So maybe they just don’t feel it, and they need to learn a little more. “

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