Double World Champion Mika Hakkinen believes compatriot Valtteri Bottas will come back stronger in the wake of his retirement in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Bottas looked set to claim his fourth career victory after extending his first stint on Supersoft tyres, profiting from the Safety Car caused by the clash between the Red Bull drivers to pick up the lead.
Bottas preserved his advantage at the restart but with just three laps remaining he ran over a piece of debris that cut his right-rear tyre, and he was forced to relinquish the lead, before parking his W09 at Turn 3.
Hakkinen can relate to Bottas' disappointment after succumbing to a similar incident in 1999 at the German Grand Prix, when a left-rear tyre failure pitched him into the barriers while leading the race.
Within his Unibet blog, Hakkinen said: "Initially you become a passenger when a tyre explodes, so you focus on regaining control. When the speed comes down, the emotion starts to take over. It’s a natural reaction, but it is really important not to let it affect you too much and to start psyching yourself up again. It’s important to have positive thoughts, to remember how well you drove and not to be too sad or emotional.
"When things go wrong you just need to examine whether you or the team could have done something better, and then move on. Ultimately you can use the disappointments to make you even stronger, and I am sure that’s what Valtteri will do.
"I have had that type of incident; rear tyres exploding, in Spa and Hockenheim for example, and of course, I was mega upset. Early in my career, when I had hardly any victories under my belt, these kinds of disappointments were hard to accept because I really wanted to show the team and mechanics that I was a winner. When you get a bit older you learn to handle things differently.
"For example, at the start of the year, you should take a blank sheet of paper and write down the things that are likely to happen during the season. You will probably have three accidents, two engine blow-ups and maybe one tyre failure. These are not targets, of course! But realistically these things will happen during a long season, so there is no point in being angry about them."
Due to his retirement from the race, Bottas also lost the chance to lead the drivers' standings going into the Spanish Grand Prix; he currently lies fourth, 30 points away from championship leader and Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
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