Bottas reveals reason for ‘botched start’ at F1 Hungarian Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas has revealed a light on his dashboard in the cockpit was the reason for him reacting to the start lights prematurely at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Bottas lined up second on the grid but a premature launch - where he moved slightly forward and in a bid to avoid an illegal jump start came to a halt again. 

The Finn lost several places on the opening lap but managed to get away without a penalty because he didn't leave his white pit box on the grid.

He was able to recover to third place, behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

“It was a pretty bad race, to be honest for me,” Bottas said. “Starting second the goal was to win the race but I lost a lot at the start,  I reacted to a light in my dashboard, it went off and I don’t know what it was, but it changed my dash and I reacted to that instead of the start lights, so I got the anti-stall in. So, I had to do the start again and lost a lot of time.”

Bottas made a late pit stop to hard tyres in a bit to overtake Verstappen for second.

He was unable to get close enough on the final lap to make a move but was happy with Mercedes' decision to gamble with a new set of tyres.

“I think it was worth the gamble, really, it gave me that difference in the tyre life, but it didn’t quite pay off today.”

Today’s result means Bottas has surrendered the lead of the drivers’ championship and sits behind five points behind Hamilton.

After a week break, Formula 1 has a double-header at Silverstone and Bottas is confident Mercedes will be competitive once again.

“I think the car will hopefully be good there and I’m looking forward to going to Silverstone,'' Bottas said. “But, again, plenty to learn from this weekend, to be stronger in Silverstone.”