Formula 1®
Valtteri Bottas Surprises in Sochi
The first-ever Grand Prix on Russian soil delivered at least one surprise: neither Lewis Hamilton nor Nico Rosberg set the DHL Fastest Lap. Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, who nearly took pole in qualifying, was the day’s fastest man.
Watch the video above and see cockpit footage of Valtteri Bottas’ Fastest Lap and DHL’s F1 Expert and former F1 driver Christian Danner telling the story behind it.
With all eyes on the two Silver Arrows and their battle for the 2014 Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship, it came as a huge surprise when Williams driver Valtteri Bottas’ time turned purple on the final lap in Sochi, Russia. Well, perhaps huge is somewhat of an overstatement. Bottas had actually given Mercedes quite the scare in qualifying. The Finn set overall bests in the first two sectors of his final lap in Q3 – so everyone knew his FW36 had pace.
Bottas and his team knew it, too. But it was Team Williams that was the most surprised when the race got underway on Sunday. “We went into the race today with the mentality that we were going to fight Mercedes for the win,” admitted Bottas after all was said and done. “But their pace in the race surprised us a bit and we need to be satisfied with third place and another podium.”
“We went into the race today with the mentality that we were going to fight Mercedes for the win.” (Williams driver Valterri Bottas)
Rosberg “screws up”
After Rosberg’s self-described “screw-up” allowed Bottas to slide into 2nd after starting P3 on the grid, the Williams pilot was only able to keep up with Hamilton early on, gradually losing ground to the race’s eventual winner. He was also forced to yield to Rosberg, who piloted a superb recovery through the field to cross the finish just 13.6s behind teammate Hamilton. The German actually ran 52 laps of the 53-lap race on the medium-compound Pirellis, even setting the second-fastest lap on 51-lap old tires!
Bottas edged out Rosberg to set the day’s fastest lap on his final tour around the Sochi Autodrom. He had been closing in on Rosberg in the final stages, setting a series of fastest laps, but in the end coming 3.7s short of second place.
“Both of the Williams cars were very very quick here in Sochi.” (Christian Danner)
“Both of the Williams cars were very very quick here in Sochi,” said DHL’s F1 Expert, Christian Danner, after the race, “simply because they set the car up for a lot of top speed, and that gave them a huge benefit, particularly, toward the end of the race.”
Mercedes claims first-ever Constructors’ crown
The ninth 1-2 and 13th win of the season put Mercedes out of reach – the first Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship for the German manufacturer.
Lewis Hamilton is now 17 points ahead of teammate and rival, Nico Rosberg. He remains 1 ahead of Rosberg in the race for the DHL Fastest Lap Award at 6-5.
See what you’ve been missing
How has Danner been doing this year? Watch all of his past predicetions and analysis and get a driver’s view of the Fastest Lap from every Grand Prix on here.
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