Valtteri Bottas finished the German Grand Prix in ninth ahead of the Sahara Force India of Sergio Perez.
The Williams Martini Racing driver started the Grand Prix in seventh as a result of Nico Hulkenberg’s one-place grid penalty. Bottas was on a two-stop strategy compared to three for most other drivers, with this decision being a gamble that did not pay off, with the Finn dropping behind Hulkenberg and the McLaren-Honda of Jenson Button in the closing stages.
In the early stages of the Grand Prix at the Hockenheimring Bottas was fifth, benefiting from his competitors pitting. Due to severely worn tyres, Bottas was unable to hold onto that position and had to settle for ninth, with the Finn believing that there was something wrong with the Grove-based outfit’s calculations regarding their tyres, feeling the last stint was too long and this is what costed the team valuable points.
“The race was going OK until Force India managed to get in front of us with the undercut,” said Bottas. “They did a three-stop and we tried a two-stop.
“There was definitely something wrong with our tyre calculations, because there was no way to get to the end on that set of tyres. The stint was just way too long and that really cost us some points today.”
