Italian Grand Prix – Bottas: « I had told the team that I would finish on the podium! »
After winning the sprint qualification but being relegated to the back of the grid, the Finn finished on the podium today after a great comeback.
Valtteri Bottas can consider himself lucky. After starting his weekend very poorly by receiving a penalty for replacing his power unit, Lewis Hamilton’s teammate finished behind the two McLarens and retains his 3rd place in the drivers’ championship ahead of Lando Norris.
To acquire this podium, the native of Nastola had his work cut out for him as he started from the last place on the grid after replacing his power unit as early as FP1 on Friday. He then made a crazy comeback that propelled him to 3rd place after the collision between the two title rivals, Hamilton and Verstappen, and Sergio Perez’s penalty right at the end of the race.
« I think that by leaving last, it’s never easy (to finish on the podium, editor’s note). I told the team that I was going to finish on the podium and I did it (laughs)! I am happy that we scored more points than Red Bull today. We were able to maximize our result today even though the clash between Max and Lewis is regrettable as it makes us lose points today.
Valtteri Bottas now has a 9-point lead over Lando Norris with less than 10 Grand Prix races remaining this season.
