There were undeniably huge prospects for Valtteri Bottas, heading into the Mexican GP, especially considering the fact that the Finn was the pole-sitter.

But, in reality, it was rather an afternoon of pain and agony for Bottas, who just couldn’t catch a break and endured heartbreak and heartbreak, ultimately seeing the chequered flag in P15.

Of course, he was never to blame for the poor result, as Daniel Ricciardo, with his lap 1 shunt and Mercedes’ tactical pit stops caused Bottas to suffer the embarrassment. However, his boss, Toto Wolff isn’t taking it easy on the Finnish driver.

The Austrian slammed Bottas for his poor defending at the start against Max Verstappen which ultimately cost Mercedes a race win. “That should not happen,” he said during the post-race interview in the paddock at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“We had two cars in front and seemed to open up the sea for Max to come around the outside. Yeah, we even saw the spin afterwards and a complete loss of points with Valtteri’s car when that could have been third or fourth is… annoying.”

What really happened at the start for Valtteri Bottas?

Bottas certainly produced a decent getaway at lights out, and so did his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. The duo drag-raced each other for the lead down the long main straight.

Unfortunately, keeping shedding the entire focus on the 7-time world champion, Bottas ended up leaving a gap around the left-most part of the track, which Verstappen took full advantage of.

By the time the cars raced down to turn 1, the Dutchman was already alongside the two Mercedes drivers. And the fact that Verstappen was on the racing line played a crucial role in his successful attempt at late-braking.

The Red Bull driver swiftly got past both the W12s. Subsequently, Bottas suffered a tap from the back and ended up facing the wrong side of the track. And that pretty much sabotaged the rest of his race, as the Finn more often than not found himself caught up in traffic.

Overall, it’s indeed a weekend to forget for Bottas, whose only purpose on Sunday turned out to be scraping the fastest lap point off Verstappen, and hence, even had to pit twice in less than 5 laps. But, can Bottas turn things around in Brazil? We’ll know in time.

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