Bottas disappointed after 'deserved' win 'slips away'

Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Red Bull Racing and Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Mercedes on the Chinese Grand Prix podium

Valtteri Bottas was once again forced to settle for second place this weekend, after another race which he came close to winning.

The Mercedes took second place going into the first corner of the Chinese Grand Prix, and then undercut Sebastian Vettel for the lead after making his one pit stop of the day.

The Finn looked to be in charge and set for victory, until a safety car gave Red Bull the chance to carry out a second stop and move to fresh tyres, giving them the edge in the closing laps.

“The race was going pretty well for us, we were looking strong all the way until the safety car stop,” he said afterwards.

“It felt like everything was under control so far, and I had no major drop off in the end. So I think we could have done it."

Despite defending has hard as possible, he was unable to prevent Daniel Ricciardo from passing him on lap 45 to take the lead of the race.

Mighty Ricciardo overtakes his way to surprise Shanghai win

After that, it was all he could do to hold on to the runners-up spot from compatriot Kimi Raikkonen.

"We were in trouble with Daniel, and nearly with Kimi in the end," he confirmed. “It is disappointing.

“We were giving everything we had and it kind of felt like we deserved the victory. But not today," he sighed. “This is racing and these things happen.

"We have to take second," he continued. "It's not what we aimed for after the beginning of the race.

"As a team I think we really good job with the undercut," he said. "The pit stop was absolutely perfect, the timing of it.

"Yes, we lost the win in the end. But we were still the first car to do one stop, so that was good.

"But yeah, the initial feeling at the moment is disappointment, because the win kind of slipped away."

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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.