GPI 2017 Chinese Grand Prix | Page 124

SILLY MISTAKE With only four days of testing and two race weekends under his belt and up against a formidable team mate in Hamilton, he is still getting up to speed. Bottas qualified and finished third on his Mercedes debut a fortnight ago in Australia and qualified third again in China. Yet Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel split him and pole-sitter Hamilton on both occasions. His team boss Toto Wolff advised Bottas to move on from his spin. “It happens to the best,” said Wolff, who is close to Bottas and was a part of his management team. “Analyse it and forget it.” To add to his spin, Bottas lost more time in the pits when the rear of his car had to be lifted physically during a pitstop due to a problem with the jack. At one point in the race, Ross, who worked as Rosberg’s race engineer, even called him ‘Nico’ on the team radio. “We still have potential for P4 here, Nico...Valtteri...so just keep pushing,” Ross said. “To be honest, I didn’t even notice while driving. It was always going to happen at some point,” Bottas said. “I’m surprised I haven’t stopped in the Williams box yet,” he added with a smile.