Lewis Hamilton’s Blame on Valtteri Bottas “Probably True” in Frank Confession | F1 | sport

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Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas said he could have “done things differently” in the first round of the Mexican Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton claimed the Finn “left the door open” for Max Verstappen. Starting from pole, Bottas had a good opportunity to try to cover Verstappen in the first corner, who lined up third on the grid.

Hamilton, starting second, had the added task of starting on the dirty side of the track but clung to his teammate to fight for the lead.

But as the two clashed against each other, Verstappen pulled off a sensational pass, rounding the outside of the two struggling Mercedes and moved ahead towards Turn 2.

Bottas’ day went from bad to worse as he was slapped by McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and turned around, ending up the wrong way.

Hamilton was frustrated with the situation and Bottas, speaking ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, admitted in hindsight that he could have covered Verstappen better.

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“Even so, the spin after that and the total loss of points with Valtteri’s car when it could have been a third or fourth place is annoying to say the least.

“I don’t think we could have won the race even if we would have stayed ahead in the first corner because they could have circled around us around the pit stops.

“In the end, for the Lewis championship, it was a question of limiting the damage, as for the manufacturers, Valtteri’s exit from the track at turn 1 was just very painful.

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