Valtteri Bottas takes his first F1 win

After the qualifiers, no one expected Mercedes to win the Russian Grand Prix, and even less that Valtteri Bottas would beat the two Ferrari drivers to claim his first victory in Formula 1.

But the Finn managed a perfect takeoff from the starting grid and was able to withstand the pressure imposed by Vettel in the final laps: « It will take me some time to come down. Normally, I’m not that emotional but hearing the Finnish national anthem was very special for me. Everything is a bit surreal, the first victory and, hopefully, the first of many more. It was definitely one of my best races. The pressure from Sebastian wasn’t too bad. The main problem was with the backmarkers. It was difficult to pass them without losing time. » stated the smiling Finn after the race.

A small mistake in turn number 13, about ten laps from the end of the Grand Prix also put the Mercedes driver in difficulty: I also had a flat spot on the tire about 15 laps from the end which bothered me a little to keep the pace but it was manageable. I asked for a bit of radio silence to focus. I’m sure this victory will give me a lot of confidence in the future. I knew I could achieve these results, I always have confidence in my ability, but this result confirms it.

A first victory rightly hailed by Toto Wolff, Mercedes’ sporting director: « It’s a fantastic first victory for Valtteri this afternoon and an incredible day for him. He controlled the race perfectly: an excellent start, then a perfect restart after the safety car and a fantastic first stint where he built the gap with the Ultra Soft tires. Then it became a bit more tense. We stopped, not really having the pace on the Super Softs, we got stuck in traffic and it took nerves of steel to handle the pressure in those last laps with a four-time world champion on his tail. »