Bottas accepts Vettel apology for French GP clash

Valtteri Bottas says he’s accepted Sebastian Vettel’s apology for their clash at the first corner of the French Grand Prix but admits he didn’t have anything to say to the Ferrari driver in his frustration at the crash.

The Mercedes driver saw his race ruined by Vettel who locked up while attacking into the first turn which meant he slid into the Finnish driver. Bottas picked up a left-rear puncture as well as significant bodywork damage which hurt his car’s aerodynamic performance for the remainder of the race.

Despite Vettel being slapped with a five-second time penalty for his part in the collision the Ferrari driver still finished ahead of Bottas in fifth place with the Finn limping home in seventh place at Paul Ricard.

Bottas says Vettel apologised for the clash at the French circuit after the race but didn’t feel he needed to say anything to him following the incident.

“He came up to me after the race an apologised, which was a nice thing, but there wasn’t much I could say as I had lost the points and couldn’t do anything about it,” Bottas said. “He told me it was his mistake, admitted to it and that was good.

“From my side I know everyone can make mistakes, that’s what it’s like and there’s nothing personal from me against him. It happens and we move on.

“If I’m very honest, I think it was only him talking, I didn’t. He apologised and I had nothing to say. We Finns can even communicate without speaking, that’s a special skill we have.”

Bottas has slipped to fourth in the F1 drivers’ standings behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and now trails Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton by 53 points after the opening eight races.

The Finnish driver is keen not to rule out his potential world title challenge despite the deficit with 13 rounds remaining starting this weekend in Austria where he dominated to pole position and victory 12 months ago.

“Never say never. I don’t see myself giving up on the championship,” he said. “I know the gap is big but nothing is impossible in Formula 1 and we’re not even halfway through the year.”