Valtteri Bottas was disappointed to only finish eighth at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday, and felt that the decision to delay his pit stop behind the safety car by a lap cost him a better result.
Bottas had made a good start to run fourth after avoiding the turn one chaos but the decision to pit later than many of his rivals after Kevin Magnussen’s crash at Raidillon left him down in twelfth and with a lot of work to do to recover his position.
The Williams Martini Racing driver was unable to better eighth and he knows that the decision to wait to pit cost him significant track position.
“It was a disappointing day and a shame that we wasted the opportunity that we had at the beginning of the race,” said Bottas. “We were in a great position after the start and when the safety car came in we should have pitted immediately. We then lost many positions.
“We tried to get the most out the race that we could after that, and I’m happy that we could at least get some points in the end, but overall it was disappointing.
“Looking ahead, we’ve got another race next week and obviously we need to learn from today. Hopefully we’ll be better in Monza.”
