F1 | Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas is second: “Nice to still be on the podium”

Valtteri Bottas smiles again at Spielberg. After many complicated weekends the Finn takes his revenge, taking second place behind an elusive Max Verstappen. Valtteri spent the majority of his race in third place, immediately behind teammate Lewis Hamilton. Despite having the pace, Bottas was told not to bother Lewis, who was dealing with some damage to his W12; it is on the fifty-second lap that the wall gives him the green light to take second position and therefore the podium. Two lucky weekends for the Finn, who brings home two trophies, which he had been missing since the Spanish Grand Prix.

"For me personally, second position is still one more than last week and in any case I started fifth, not bad I'd say – said the Finn – I think that as a team we scored quite a few points, considering the gap that separates us from Red Bull in terms of pure speed. For me it's nice to be back on the podium in second position and I think we did our best today. The tires held up very well, it was a surprise – said Bottas, who opted for a one-stop strategy – the next two weeks we will work hard in view of Silverstone, it will be great to see the fans there again and I hope we can be more fast to fight with our opponents".