Mercedes chief technical director James Allison praised Valtteri Bottas’ outstanding performance at the Turkish GP, calling it “majestic.”
Bottas inherited pole as Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton dropped from P1 to P11 on the grid due to an engine penalty, and he made the most of it.
Bottas would lead from the front throughout the race, claiming his first victory of the 2021 season and, more importantly, denying Max Verstappen the extra points in his title fight with Hamilton.
Verstappen had to wait for the second place after failing to stop Bottas, who thrilled Mercedes with a “majestic” triumph.
When asked if Bottas could have raced a less perfect race than that at Mercedes’ Turkish Grand Prix debrief, Allison replied, “I think I prefer to put that question the other way around: Could it have been more perfect?” No, that is not the case.
“He didn’t put a foot wrong and it was a majestic performance, commanding from the front and with great skill in very difficult conditions. Skill that required him not to be too greedy at any point in the race.
“He knew he had a fast car, he knew he had spent the weekend getting it really nicely balanced and he knew he had a fantastic opportunity of a win.
“However, he also knew that the margin between really competitive performance in the car and tyre disaster is very fine and a little bit of heavy right foot, a bit of clumsiness here or there would have seen the tyre damaged to a point where the inherent advantage of the car would all have washed away to nothing.
“Instead, he drove a very, very controlled race, well within himself, just eking out a small amount over Verstappen behind to protect himself, allowing that gap to grow to first two, then three, then four seconds as the race progressed.
“Very, very commanding, mature performance and especially after the pit stop,” Allison continued.
“A pit stop that we did to mirror and match what Max Verstappen had done a lap earlier and then with Valtteri on fresh tyres making sure that he drove very gently on that fresh rubber, avoiding the graining so that he could then be completely protected and strong in the closing laps of the race.
“He was full of beaming smiles afterwards and with absolute justification. It was a great, great performance and brilliant for the team.”
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