On the day which saw Lewis Hamilton clinch the seventh World Championship of his career, it was a difficult day for his Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, who finished in fourteenth, starting from ninth on the grid.
Following a difficult start, Bottas said he made contact with another car heading into turn nine, affecting the feel and balance of the car for the rest of the race, so instead he turned his attention to simply getting to the chequered flag.
He pitted on lap seven for Intermediate tyres, the race having begun in wet conditions, and again on lap 46 for another set of the green-walled Intermediate tyre, which he ran to the end of the race.
He said: “That was a long race. Such a long day. From the first lap onwards, everything went wrong. I don’t know who it was, but someone was spinning in front of me in the first corner and I was avoiding, and then I spun as well.
“Then I had contact in Turn 9 and then the car wasn’t the same anymore. I struggled to stay on track. I couldn’t stay on track, the steering wheel was like this, and there was a piece missing from the front wing. It was just about surviving from then on, not good.”
Despite the challenges he faced during the race, he complimented his team-mate on his achievements this year:
“Congratulations to Lewis as well. He deserves this title completely: he was the better one of us this year overall and seven titles is a very impressive achievement in our sport.”
