Bottas disappointed after missing out on Spa podium

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There was no hiding Valtteri Bottas' clear disappointment at the outcome of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend, which saw him finish in fifth place.

The Finn had qualified for the race in third. He was able to maintain that spot when the lights went out, right through to the first round of pit stops.

Race leaders Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel soon pulled out a big lead at the front. Bottas had a comfortable advantage over Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, who was subsequently handed a stop-go penalty.

But just when it looked as though Bottas would be able to cruise to the finish, a safety car was deployed. As it turned out, this would change the course of the race for the Mercedes driver.

The leaders all made their second and final pit stops before the restart. Bottas opted for a new set of soft compound Pirellis, but Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo made a different choice.

"With the restart we went for the new soft tyre," he explained. "The guys around me went for the ultrasoft, and they clearly got them to work better.

Belgian Grand Prix: Hamilton fends off Vettel to clinch Spa victory

"I could feel behind the safety car the temperatures were dropping and it was like driving on ice. At the restart I was just really on the back foot and couldn't defend.

"In the race the softs [had been] working well for us," he pointed out. "The second stint pace I had with the soft tyres, it felt like I was matching or even catching the guys ahead.

"In a normal race we would have had an optimal tyre strategy," he insisted. "But during a safety car restart there's always a risk that other guys might have softer compounds."

As it turned out, both Ricciardo and Raikkonen were able to successfully challenge Bottas down the Kemmel Straight. It meant that Bottas dropped to fifth place in a single corner, with just ten laps to go in the race.

"It would have been nice to at least be on the podium and score good points for us as a team," he said.

"Today's race and result were a big disappointment. It's been an all-around difficult weekend for me.

"I need to learn a lot from it because I wasn't quick enough," he added. "I need to learn from this weekend and analyse everything quickly and move on.

"I'm looking forward to Monza," he said. "I need to analyse my mistakes quickly, and then hopefully come back stronger next week."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff suggested it wasn't just Bottas that needed to learn from the weekend, but the team as a whole.

"From Valtteri's side, we struggled with his car this weekend," Wolff conceded. "Especially in traction, as you could see on the TV pictures at the restart.

"We need to find out what happened there. And likewise, he will be the first to be self-critical about losing the positions after the restart."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.