In the wake of the triumph of grabbing an unexpected pole position at the end of Saturday's qualifying session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, things went badly wrong for Valtteri Bottas right from the start of the Mexico City GP.
Despite making what initially looked to be a solid launch when the lights went out to get the race underway, Bottas found himself swallowed up in the middle of a three-way battle into the first corner.
With Max Verstappen on the outside and Lewis Hamilton on the inside, Bottas was then tagged from behind by an over-optimistic Daniel Ricciardo which sent him spinning off.
It left Hamilton exposed for the rest of the race, and the reigning world champion wasn't happy.
"I had envisaged it differently, naturally, in the sense that Valtteri maybe would get a better start and I would have tried to get into his tow," he said.
"Obviously I was alongside him, which was good, and then I was just covering my side of the track, trying to make sure no one could come up the inside.
"I thought Valtteri would be doing the same, but obviously he left the door open for Max [who] did a mega job braking into Turn 1, and because I’m on the inside in the dirt there was no hope for me.
"That made the race a lot harder, naturally," he added. “Having one car ahead just means they can play on the strategy."
Verstappen himself said that Bottas had been given no option. "You have to leave a car’s width anyway, so there was not much they could do," he told Sky Sports F1. "We went three-wide towards Turn 1 and it was all about who was going to brake the latest.
Although he was able to resume after the incident, Bottas dropped to the back of the order after making a pit stop. He never recovered higher than 11th place for the rest of the race, spending a large amount of time pinned behind Ricciardo.
“Very, very tricky,” Bottas summarised his afternoon after the chequered flag that saw him finish in 15th place after making two late additional pit stops in pursuit of setting the fastest lap.
“For me obviously [the race was] quite compromised with the first corner incident," he acknowledged. "Then I was stuck behind cars that I couldn’t pass.
"It was really tricky, and also I was quite limited with the engine and brake temperatures," he added. "I couldn’t attack many laps in a row, so I had to go back and forwards and couldn’t find a way to progress.
[McLaren] have the same power unit, they have good straight-line speed. [Ricciardo] was defending well and I just couldn’t find a way [past]."
Although he succeeded in setting the fastest point on the final lap of the race, he doesn't get the bonus point for it as he finished outside the top ten. However it does mean that the point doesn't go to Verstappen.
"The situation at the end with fastest lap was a bit funny," he admitted. "It wasn't easy to find a clear space on track but in the end we were able to make it stick and at least take that point away from Red Bull.
“Obviously a lot less than what I aimed [for] today. Not my lucky day," he sighed. "But at least the next race is on Sunday, so we can come back stronger then."
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