Liam Lawson has accepted blame for operating Valtteri Bottas off the monitor and costing the Sauber driver a shot at his first factors of the Components 1 season through the Qatar Grand Prix.
Bottas, who will depart Sauber on the finish of the 12 months, has but to safe a top-10 end this season however a ground improve forward of the Las Vegas Grand Prix has made the crew extra aggressive within the closing phases of 2024.
Crew-mate Zhou Guanyu, who can even depart the squad at season’s finish, completed eighth in Qatar to seal Sauber’s first factors of a dismal marketing campaign, with Bottas solely capable of get well to eleventh after a first-corner spin for Lawson following the primary security automotive restart on lap 5 pushed the Finn extensive.
“It was simply my dangerous. I assumed we had actually good [tyre] temperature to be sincere,” RB driver Lawson conceded, revealing he had apologised to Bottas for the error.
“I labored lots on the tyres on the restart on the protection automotive, went for a transfer and half means across the nook realised…principally, I used to be sliding up the monitor in direction of him and at that time, I simply tried to get out of it truthfully as a result of I used to be about to hit him.
“So I attempted to verify up, I spun the automotive. I do not know if we touched, I assume we did, however that was on me.
“It was my fault. Clearly, he did nothing mistaken. I did not count on him to remain on the market to be sincere, and since he did clearly I used to be sliding up the monitor, however it was my fault.”
Valtteri Bottas, KICK Sauber C44
Photograph by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Photos
Bottas is the one driver to have raced in all 23 races to date this season and failed to attain some extent.
He can be hoping the latest enhancements to the Sauber will enable him to deal with that within the last spherical in Abu Dhabi this weekend as he bemoaned his luck.
“I feel all the things simply went towards me – properly, because the Lawson incident,” stated Bottas.
“He spun after which I misplaced the monitor place. We determined earlier than the race, whoever is forward, we are going to get the optimum technique and the opposite one, a assist technique. That was it.
“Additionally the timing of the protection automotive was the worst for me, potential. So it is a disgrace as a result of even like a very dangerous race now, I used to be eleventh! So a half-decent race ought to have gotten factors.
“However clearly I am blissful for Zhou and for the crew to a minimum of get a few factors.
“Everybody deserves a minimum of these couple of factors. No person needs to be that crew who would not rating, so a minimum of that curse is off. However like I stated, I’ve nonetheless obtained zero factors, which isn’t nice. In order that’s the primary feeling now.
“So, yeah, I’ve one race left for now and hopefully in Abu Dhabi we’re going to combat as properly. However yeah, simply total, I feel this race for me form of sums up the season, simply did not work.”
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Mark Mann-Bryans
Components 1
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