Nico Rosberg Claims that Mercedes Gifted Japanese Grand Prix 2019 Win to Valtteri Bottas

Published 10/15/2019, 1:03 PM EDT

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Nico Rosberg is not a driver to shy away from controversy and has often got into trouble for it. After every race, the German driver often posts vlogs on Youtube with his review of the race.

Following the Japanese Grand Prix 2019, the 2016 world champion was at it once again. This time, he claimed that Mercedes gifted Valtteri Bottas the race win in Suzuka. To back up his argument, he suggested that by bringing Lewis Hamilton in for an extra pit stop, the way was clear for the Finn. Nico Rosberg viewed it as Mercedes’ way of repaying Bottas for all he has done for the team this season.

“They could do two things. They can tell Hamilton to let Bottas pass, but of course that doesn’t look like it. Mercedes is world champion there, then it is not good for your image to give the victory within your own team as a gift,” Rosberg said in his vlog.

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via Imago

“This was all they could do. They would make a loss anyway and since that title has already arrived, this was the best option. They may lose a 1-2, but they still have the confidence of Bottas. However, Hamilton was unhappy with this after the race, that may be clear.”

With Bottas’ win and Lewis Hamilton in 3rd place, Mercedes won the 2019 constructor’s title. The German team were partially aided by the miserable outing for rivals, Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel managed to put up a fight for 2nd, inspite of escaping a penalty for a jump-start. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc clobbered Red Bull driver Max Verstappen and put themselves out of commission, in Max’s case, permanently.

After copping a 15-second time penalty, Leclerc dropped from 6th to 7th, in spite of a fightback up the order.

via Imago

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Dhruv George

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Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.
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