Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, Sochi Autodrom, 2017

Maiden victory earn Bottas first Driver of the Weekend win since 2014

2017 Russian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend result

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Valtteri Bottas was voted Driver of the Weekend following his breakthrough victory in last week’s Russian Grand Prix.

It’s the fifth time Bottas has been named Driver of the Weekend but the first time he’s topped the poll since he finished second at the Hockenheimring in 2014 by splitting the two Mercedes drivers.

Here’s why almost 80% of F1 Fanatic readers named him the best driver of last weekend’s grand prix.

Valtteri Bottas’s Russian Grand Prix weekend

Start, Sochi Autodrom, 2017
Bottas seized his chance
The Ferraris were quick in Russia, heading every practice session. Bottas has always gone well at Sochi, and set the pace in the early part of practice, but was pipped by both the red cars in Q3. He was less than a tenth of a second off pole position.

He made a superb start, however, and used the long run and the headwind to great effect. Having easily picked off Kimi Raikkonen he also out-dragged Sebastian Vettel to turn one.

Having taken the lead, Bottas was able to wield the excellent pace on the ultra-soft tyres he demonstrated in practice on Friday. Vettel edges closer to him towards the end of the first stint, and ran longer, but wasn’t able to jump ahead of the Mercedes driver as Bottas made light work of traffic.

Bottas made arguably his only mistake of the weekend when he locked up on his set of super-soft tyres, giving Vettel an opportunity to close. He withstood considerable pressure to maintain his lead and deliver an impressive breakthrough triumph.

I think Raikkonen summed it up best getting Bottas and Hamilton mixed up. If someone told you their result was the other way round I’d happily sing Hamiltons praise, stealing a win from the faster Ferrari’s while the teammate brought the car home in the position it belonged in.

Bottas thoroughly outperformed Hamilton this weekend, I didn’t expect that strong a showing from him so soon but I had a feeling he might have more potential Than Rosberg ever had. No ‘DRS glitch’ to explain this one, just the better driver and he soaked up the pressure from Vettel like a champion. Well deserved and hopefully the first of many.
Philip (@Philipgb)

I was wondering why Bottas did not pass Massa earlier, as it seems he could have. But he had Vettel on his tail and knew that Vettel would have the DRS on the main straight and made sure he’d have that as well by staying behind the back marker in the parts where Vettel could not pass him.

Top job by Valtteri.

It should not go unnoticed that Valtteri lost two seconds of his five-second lead on Vettel when one earlier backmarker held him up in the twisty bits while Vettel passed same backmarker with DRS on the straight, gaining rather than losing from it. But Bottas did not curse on the radio and kept his middle finger on the wheel.

He deserves driver of the weekend not only for his driving skills, but also for being best of all in manners.
Bart

Have to give it to Bottas. Vettel a contender as well due to excellent qualification (after all, it is driver of the weekend).

But the Mercedes was simply quick enough in the tow after the start, and then Bottas was very fast in his first stint (surprisingly so).
@Mike-dee

Russian Grand Prix winners and losers

Fernando Alonso, McLaren, Sochi Autodrom, 2017
Better off out? Alonso broke down on the formation lap
Few other drivers stood out in an otherwise unmemorable race though the Force India pair won some praise.

An honourable mention to the Force India drivers. The car this year is for between ninth and twelfth place. Yet somehow they deliver.
@Sakis

Force India are showing race after race how having two good drivers is important if you are chasing points in the midfield. As to who was the best driver, i’ll go with Vettel. Obviously good job by Bottas and Hulkenberg.
@Tango

The driver who retied before the race even started didn’t miss much.

Perez, Hulkenberg and Sainz seemed to do a pretty good race but we saw too little of them.

So who is Driver of the Weekend? Of course Alonso, for avoiding the race altogether, it was so awful.
Hyoko

Valtteri Bottas’s Driver of the Weekend wins from 2011 to date

Driver of the weekend: The Twitter verdict

The widespread praise for Bottas continued on Twitter as well.

2017 Russian Grand Prix

    Browse all 2017 Russian Grand Prix articles

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    9 comments on “Maiden victory earn Bottas first Driver of the Weekend win since 2014”

    1. Profile Photo

      Scuderia-Racing-Or-Ping-Pong (@)
      8th May 2017, 14:14

      1015 days since he last earned a Driver of the Weekend win…

      1. Profile Photo

        Mark Jackson (@markjackson)
        8th May 2017, 18:21

        How many days since Hamilton won Driver of the Weekend?

    2. Profile Photo

      Robbie (@robbie)
      8th May 2017, 15:49

      Very well deserved VB. Way to go!

      1. Juan Fanger
        8th May 2017, 22:46

        VB is always well deserved.

    3. BigJoe
      8th May 2017, 16:05

      I bet other drivers like Verstappen, Riccairdo or even Sainz, would like to know his secret. 1015 days, maybe he chanegd his mental coach, diet or training regime.
      This improvement curve as as steep as Mika Salo’s.

      1. Profile Photo

        Robbie (@robbie)
        8th May 2017, 18:52

        Lol ya couldn’t have anything to do with the car he’s in now.

    4. mark jackson
      8th May 2017, 17:25

      Hamilton’s last Driver of the Weekend win? Canada 2016. Rosberg, Vettel, Verstappen, Riccarido, Bottas have scored multiple DOTW win in that time.

      1. Profile Photo

        Mashiat (@mashiat)
        9th May 2017, 8:09

        Bottas has one since this, which happens to be in this race.

    5. Profile Photo

      Mashiat (@mashiat)
      8th May 2017, 20:03

      Was this the most comprehensive DOTW victory ever? I remember the previous record being 77% for Hamilton in Germany 2011. @keithcollantine

    Comments are closed.