Valtteri Bottas rues “unlucky” F1 power unit failure at Eifel GP

Valtteri Bottas was left to rue a Mercedes power unit failure which has severely dented his chances of winning the 2020 F1 drivers’ title.

Bottas had maintained the lead into Turn 1, with a stern defence against teammate Lewis Hamilton but it all went wrong on Lap 13 for the Finn.

Bottas locked up heavily into the first corner, surrendering the lead to Hamilton and was forced to make a premature stop for fresh tyres.

As he made his way through the field, Bottas then suffered a loss of power where he was eventually forced to retire on Lap 19.

Reflecting on the failure, he said: “Yeah, unlucky, what can I say? During the VSC I started to lose power and it never recovered. It was quite a big loss of power, something to do with the power unit. I don’t have any details yet. Unlucky. It was good fun until then.”

While it may have been a disappointing day for Bottas, it was one of the rare times we’ve seen him come out on top against Hamilton.

Off the start, Hamilton looked to have the upper hand into Turn 1 as he pushed his teammate wide but then Bottas showed great aggression to remain on the outside and re-overtook him into the following corner.

Looking back at the battle with Hamilton on the first lap, Bottas added: “It was a great start, we had a good battle. There was no way I was going to let it be easy for him so I am glad I could maintain the lead.

“Obviously, later on, I had the lock-up into Turn 1 so I lost the position but it meant I stopped early on the new tyres and they started to feel pretty good so I had no doubt I could have carried good pace and probably undercut.”

With Hamilton claiming his 91st victory, he now sits 69 points clear of Bottas at the top of the championship.