Valtteri Bottas says his power unit failure and subsequent penalty would have been a lot harder to take if he was still in contention for the championship.
Lewis Hamilton beat Bottas to the title in the United States Grand Prix two races ago. In the following round Bottas retired due to a power unit problem due to a loss of oil.A new engine, turbo and MGU-H is being fitted to his car this weekend. This means he has exceeded his maximum number of power unit components and will have to start at the back of the grid on Sunday.
“Obviously I’m taking a new power unit of the latest spec,” said Bottas. “So that means I’m going to be starting from the back of the grid.
“Knowing that, we need to really focus for the race performance, race pace, whatever we do with the car. Also for sure thinking ahead about the strategy, if there’s any anything we can do to aid my comeback from from the back. But I look forward to it.”
“[It’s a] good thing everything was already settled in the championship before Brazil,” he added, “because obviously if I would have still been in the title fight that failure and the start for this weekend would have been even more painful.
“So everything’s settled, I’ll take it, it is what it is. And I know the approach for Sunday and need to make most out of it. I’m sure we can still do something good from that place.”
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Jere (@jerejj)
28th November 2019, 18:55
Why only ICE, turbo, and MGU-H, and not all the elements all at once since the starting position would be 20th either way?
RB13
28th November 2019, 19:30
What’s the point in spending the unecessary cash when the titles are sealed and this competitor’s WDC position is fixed?
Jere (@jerejj)
28th November 2019, 21:56
@RB13 If your point is about what I think it is then I can understand to an extent, but still, he could be better off with having an entirely fresh copy of each PU-element rather than just three of them.
Bulgarian (@bulgarian)
28th November 2019, 20:21
I hope Mercedes will test something for 2020 season already with Valtteri car. Time flies, so March will come very soon.
MrBoerns (@mrboerns)
29th November 2019, 8:56
Bottas: Grass ‘green’