- Russian GP - Race
Tyre struggles made second impossible - Bottas
Valtteri Bottas says any chance he had of challenging Nico Rosberg for second at the Russian Grand Prix ended when he started struggling with his tyres.
In the opening stages of the race Bottas managed to keep Lewis Hamilton's lead below three seconds, but appeared to drop off in the laps before his first pit stop. Nico Rosberg picked Bottas off during his recovery drive for second and, though the Finn was getting faster at the end of the race, he admits his tyres were never going to let him get close enough to the Mercedes.
"At the beginning it seemed to be really good and I didn't seem too far off Lewis, everything was going to plan, the tyres were feeling good," Bottas said. "Suddenly the rear tyres started to, I started to lose pace and struggling more and more and Lewis was getting far away. Then we stopped for the prime and it took a really long time to get that tyre to work. I got my best lap in the last lap of the race, it was really weird."
Bottas admits Rosberg's aggressive pass for second, which forced the Williams driver across the run-off area, took him by surprise.
"As it took so long to get the tyres to work Nico got me in Turn 1. It was a bit of a surprise for me, I didn't expect him to come inside. Luckily I saw him in time so there was no contact. As a team we did a good job and we have come so far forward from last season so it's really good to be on the podium."
Despite his frustrations with the tyres Bottas is happy to put Williams' recent form into perspective.
"I need to be happy for us as a team, what we've been doing since last year is amazing. Again on the podium, good amount of points. We were today best of the rest. Unfortunately Mercedes is still quite a bit ahead but we did the best we could from where we started, so we need to be happy as a team."
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