Valtteri Bottas says that Sebastian Vettel’s stoppage, and subsequent Virtual Safety Car phase, was the “miracle” that Mercedes needed to win in Russia.
Mercedes lacked outright pace compared to Ferrari at the Sochi Autodrom and held third and fourth respectively in the first stint, with Bottas trailing team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Mercedes adopted a different strategy to their Italian rivals, electing to negotiate Q2 on Mediums rather than Softs, and therefore ran a longer first stint.
Hamilton inherited the lead when Vettel pitted, and the German driver’s subsequent hybrid-related failure meant he had to stop his SF90 immediately, causing the use of the Virtual Safety Car.
It reduced the time loss endured by both Mercedes drivers in the pit phase and Hamilton emerged still in the lead, with Bottas third.
That became second for the Finn shortly afterwards when Ferrari opted to pit Leclerc again during a Safety Car period caused by George Russell’s crash.
“For sure they had a strong car, good pace and as we’ve seen this year they’ve been extremely quick on the straights,” said Bottas.
“I knew that if they’d get close enough, especially in Sector Three, they would be a big threat going into Turn Two. So I just had to try to keep it together, minimise the mistakes.
“The car felt pretty decent, with the Soft tyre in the corners, so I tried to maximize everything I could in the corners, trying to get a good Sector 3 and a good exit out of the last corner.
“That way I could keep the position, but to be in that position, beforehand, I think the team did the right things.
“Already the decision to start on the Mediums, allowing us to go long in the first stint and when you go long in the first stint you eventually start to go forward.
“Of course, the timing of the Safety Car came like a miracle, so that was good.”
Bottas added that his focus after the pit stop phase was to repel any threat from Leclerc, as opposed to trying to chase down team-mate Hamilton.
“I think at the point, we were on the similar tyre with Lewis, with the same car, so for me it was definitively the priority to keep Charles behind,” added the Finn.
“I tried at the beginning, to see if I had any chance with the re-start and the first lap, but there was no way.
“So, I was trying to balance out, in the first few laps, to push hard enough to keep Charles behind and, at the same time, keep a little bit of margin to Lewis, because when you follow very close behind you obviously slide and destroy the tyres easily.”
Bottas now trails Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship by 73 points.
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