Valtteri Bottas described his Spanish Grand Prix result as “very disappointing” as he relinquished more ground to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Bottas started from the front row of the grid but was unable to challenge pole-sitting Mercedes team-mate Hamilton and was instead overhauled by Verstappen and Racing Point’s Lance Stroll into Turn 1.
Bottas worked his way back past Stroll but was unable to seriously threaten Verstappen across the remainder of the race and classified in third position.
It means Bottas is now 43 points behind Hamilton in the standings and six adrift of Verstappen.
“I had a bad start compared to Lewis and when you are at the front, the effects of that are even worse because the cars behind you get a big tow out of you,” he said.
“First I tried to go left, to get a tow from Lewis, but Max was already there and then I tried to go to the right, to have the inside line, but one of the Racing Points was there.
“Then, you known, I had cars outside and one on the inside so they were ahead of me going into Turn 1, so I was sandwiched.
“Everyone knows how tricky it is on this track when you lose two places at the start.
“Of course, we tried everything we could, the pace was strong and the tyres were holding on a bit better than expected.
“We tried something different at the end for me, even making an extra pit stop to get the fastest lap, which worked. For me personally, of course it was a very disappointing day.”
