F1 News, Reports and Race Results

'Anything is possible' on Sunday, insists Bottas

Valtteri Bottas executed a perfect winning strategy in Saturday's sprint qualifying race, but that doesn't change the Mercedes driver's fate for the start of the Italian Grand Prix tomorrow.

The Finn topped Friday's qualifying and started today's 18-lap event from the head of the field. A good start kept him ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen into turn 1, and he went on to win the race.

But while the finishing order sets the grid for the main race tomorrow, Bottas will still start from pit lane after the team opted to incur penalties for restocking his stockpile of engine components.

“It has been a perfect weekend so far and now I have a grid penalty,” the Finn sighed after the end of today's sprint. "That happens.

“For sure it's annoying. We’ve done good [over the] last two days, with good performance, and then you kind of re-set completely for the day after and you start from the back.

“Those are things that are out of my hands," he continued. "I’m not going to waste too much energy or be too negative about it, because there’s absolutely nothing I can do about it.

“The only thing I can do is try my best and go full gas tomorrow." However he does hold on to the points for winning today. "At least I got a few points - every point counts for me personally, and for us as a team.”

"It’s good to see that we have good speed from the car here, good pace, and I’ll be fighting tomorrow, going as high as I can tomorrow.

“Anything is possible. If you at the race last year, what happened, you never know so I’ll keep pushing."

With Bottas having announced he's leaving Mercedes for Alfa Romeo at the en dof the current season, the team's focus is understandably on throwing everything behind Lewis Hamilton's bid for an eighth title.

But things didn't go according to plan for the reigning world champion today, with wheel spin costing him three places at the start.

He'll now go into the Grand Prix from fourth place on the grid, with Verstappen looking likely to extend his current five point lead in the drivers championship.

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

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.

Recent Posts

Alpine double-podium in Brazil could deliver $30 million windfall

Alpine’s remarkable double podium at the São Paulo Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon and Pierre…

12 hours ago

F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2024 São Paulo GP

Alexander Albon, Williams (Did Not Start): 5.5/10 Alex Albon is definitely going through something of…

13 hours ago

Jos Verstappen rips British media after Brazilian Max fest

Jos Verstappen wasted no time after his son spectacular win at the São Paulo Grand…

15 hours ago

Leclerc left with ‘mixed feelings’ after disappointing Sao Paulo GP

Charles Leclerc's weekend in Sao Paulo was unfortunately a stark contrast to Ferrari's recent triumphs…

16 hours ago

Back when Kimi knew exactly what he was doing

Twelve years ago on this day, Kimi Raikkonen took a popular win at the 2012…

18 hours ago

Mercedes fined for starting grid tyre pressure infringement

The Mercedes team was hit with a fine by the FIA after Sunday’s Sao Paulo…

19 hours ago