Bottas “surprised” Wolff suggested he was out of position in botched pit stop

The Finn had been hoping to challenge Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for the win but his hopes were dashed when he pitted on Lap 30 to switch tyres. Mercedes was unable to remove Bottas’ front-right wheel and was forced to retire his car from second place.

Mercedes team principal Wolff appeared to blame Bottas directly after the race by revealing he had stopped a few centimetres too far from his pit stop marking.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Bottas admitted Wolff’s comments came as a surprise as he felt he was “pretty spot-on” with where he stopped his car.

“I saw the video and for me, it was pretty spot-on where I stopped,” he said. “So I was quite surprised.”

Mercedes was finally able to remove Bottas’ wheel back at its Brackley headquarters using specialist equipment on the Tuesday after the Monaco race.

And Bottas said Mercedes has put corrections in place to ensure it can avoid a repeat of the issue in future following what he described as “honest” discussions.

“The main thing, first, was it was nice to hear when we got it off,” he explained. “And of course, we as a team had to maximise the learning from it.

“There was a detailed analysis of everything what happened, why it happened, how can we prevent that ever happening again in the future. So it’s really all about learning the issue and correcting it.

“I think the team fully understands it now and we’ve made corrections for that and hopefully don’t have to experience it again.”

Bottas, who has endured his worst start to a season as a Mercedes driver, admitted it took him a good few days to get over the disappointment.

“Personally for me, it took a couple of days, I have to say. It’s not been the best start of the season,” he said.

“That kind of an issue, when it hits you, and obviously when your target is to get some good points, it’s disappointing.

“But I got over it, I’ve found my ways to get through it and I’m keen to race again.”