Valtteri Bottas demonstrated nerves of steel and kept Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel behind him to win his first win in Formula 1. The Mercedes driver triumphed in the Russian Grand prix, fourth round of the 2017 F1 World Championship.
The Finn took the start with a lightning move on poleman Vettel. Kimi Raikkonen got third, while Lewis Hamilton was fourth – they finished at these positions. Sebastian tried to pass Bottas on strategy but it did not work out. All of them made just one pitstop during the race, changing their ultrasoft tyres to supersofts,
“It’s been quite a while, more than 80 races, but worth the wait, well worth the learning curve”, Valtteri Bottas commented on the podium.
“This strange opportunity came to me over the winter and I have to thank the team for making this possible.”
“We need to keep pushing, keep finishing with both cars one and two. I’m very happy.”
107th different winner of an #F1 race
5th from Finland ??
First Finnish winner since ?? 2013
Soak it up, @ValtteriBottas ?#RussianGP ?? pic.twitter.com/SLZprvFrHJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 April 2017
Valtteri Bottas: “It’s been quite a while, but worth the wait”
Vettel admitted that he lost race at the very beginning: “I tried everything to catch Valtteri. I thought there would be an opportunity on the back straight. I thought there was an opportunity but I was not sure what Felipe Massa would do [in the last race lap when he and Bottas passed the Brazilian with a lap] and ended up losing out. It doesn’t matter, though. Big congratulations to Valtteri. It is his day.”
Raikkonen added: “Unfortunately today we could only get third place but we’ll try for better next time. I have had a little bit of a rough start to the season – far from ideal. This week has been a step forward, but we still only finished third.”
“We’ll keep trying, keep improving, but all the small details have to be there to get the first place.”
PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: A race that @ValtteriBottas will never forget ??? #RussianGP pic.twitter.com/oPVWVbQP6Y
— Formula 1 (@F1) 30 April 2017
