Bottas rues puncture despite poor pace

© XPB 

Valtteri Bottas believes Williams could have capitalised from the late drama in the Hungarian Grand Prix if it wasn't for his puncture.

The Finn was hit by Max Verstappen at Turn 5 following a Safety Car restart, with a number of cars bunched up behind the ailing Lewis Hamilton. While admitting Williams was slow in race trim, Bottas says the incident-packed race could still have seen the team pick up a solid haul of points.

"The start of the race was okay but our pace was quite poor," Bottas said. "Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes were clearly quicker than us and even Force India behind were not that much slower. We were struggling with the pace but with everything happening at the end there could have been a chance to get some points.

"After the last restart at turn five someone hit me from the back, I think it was Verstappen, and that was it. You need to drive half a lap slowly not to damage the gearbox and the diff so that was it, game over."

And Bottas highlights the track characteristics as the reason why there were so many incidents during the race.

"Everyone was being quite aggressive today because it is so difficult to pass here so if  you get any kind of opportunity you have to go for it. Eventful race but really unlucky. It is really disappointing to get zero points for the team but now we just need to look forward. Spa will be a completely different story to this."

REPORT: Vettel wins chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix from Kvyat

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