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Bottas criticises Raikkonen for crash

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Valtteri Bottas strongly criticised Kimi Raikkonen for the final lap collision which took the Williams driver out of third place in the Russian Grand Prix.

Both Bottas and Raikkonen had passed Sergio Perez at the end of the penultimate lap, and Raikkonen used DRS to close on Bottas in to Turn 2 before staying with the Williams through Turn 3. From a long way back, Raikkonen attempted to pass down the inside but hit the right rear of Bottas' car, sending him in to the barriers.

With Raikkonen eventually handed a 30-second time penalty for the collision, Bottas felt it was a reckless move at such a late stage in the race.

"I don’t think it was a racing incident," Bottas said. "I didn’t see anyone there and I was in front, quite clearly ahead and taking my line and then suddenly at the apex I felt someone hit me, so I don’t really get the point to do moves like that in the last lap."

While speaking before Raikkonen was penalised for the incident, Bottas says any punishment does not help his own situation having retired.

"It doesn’t matter really. I’m never getting those points back ... One thing for sure I know I was not at fault, so I am happy about that, but it doesn’t really help.

"I’m certainly not blaming myself, as I was clearly in front and taking my line. When someone hits you from behind it’s quite obvious it’s the car that’s behind that is at fault."

Hamilton close to title after Russian GP win

AS IT HAPPENED: Russian Grand Prix

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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.