Bottas kept the door open for Verstappen

Both Mercedes drivers were allowed to Mexican City Grand Prix starting from the front row on Sunday, but still it was the third to leave Max Verstappen who took the lead after the first corner. The Dutchman drove side-by-side with both Mercedes into the first corner, after which he had an advantage on the outside of Turn 1 and was the last of the three drivers in front to anchor on the ideal line.

From that moment on, Verstappen dominated the race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodrriguez, on his way to his ninth win of the season. Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second place, while Valtteri Bottas was tapped by Daniel Ricciardo in the first corner and finished outside the points.

Mercedes should have approached the start differently

After the race, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had already announced that his drivers could also handle the sprint to the first corner a little more cleverly, although the Austrian also had to admit that Verstappen would still have won the race without a better start. Hamilton agrees with his team boss and afterwards was not entirely happy with the approach of his Finnish stable mate.

“I would have envisioned it differently of course, in the sense that Valtteri would have had a better start and then I could have used his slipstream,” Hamilton said after the race. “But I was seated right next to him, which was fine. I then covered my side of the track to make sure no one could pass it on the inside. So I tried to keep whatever Red Bull I could see in my mirrors behind me and thought Valtteri would do the same. However, he kept the door open for Max, and Max was on the ideal line so he could brake great for the first corner. I was sitting on the dirt on the inside and so there was no hope for me.”

Bottas himself also looked back at the start afterwards, in which things quickly went wrong for the Finn: ‘The start was okay. He wasn’t terribly bad, but Verstappen was able to dive into the slipstream and then brake very late for the first corner,” Bottas told Sky F1. “Then I was suddenly tapped from behind by Daniel, after which I spun. From that moment on it was very difficult to make good ground. I drove too close behind other cars and also had to pay attention to my brakes and the engine. So I was able to keep it under control, until I got too close behind it. That didn’t make it easy.”

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