F1 | Italian GP | Mercedes, "Not The Outcome We Wanted But We Will Come Out Fighting"
Mercedes-AMG's Valtteri Bottas wins the F1 Sprint on Saturday following a solid effort from P1 in an 18-lap race. While his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, suffered a wheel spin losing three positions.
The Italian Grand Prix was held on Saturday for the 14th round of the Formula 1 World Championship in. the legendary Autodromo Nacional de Monza. In this season, Mercedes-AMG's Valtteri Bottas won the Saturday sprint race but will start at the back in Sunday's race, due to team Mercedes opting to install his fourth power unit in the W12.
Win in @F1 sprint! 🥇#VB77 #F1 #ItalianGP #Sprint @MercedesAMGF1 @F1 pic.twitter.com/2Wfl77f0LQ
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) September 11, 2021
Post-sprint race, Bottas comments, "A good day in the office for me personally, it was a clean race and I had the pace. Feels like it has been a while since I’ve finished first in a race, so I am very happy. I had a good start and a clean restart as well, so those things were key for me. The car felt good throughout, and it was great to finish P1 today and get some points as well. Unfortunately, I’m starting from the back tomorrow, but the speed is there, so I’ll be fighting. There are overtaking opportunities here so I hope I can make my way up the grid and have a good race for the Team. It won’t be easy, but we have the pace and with the right strategy we can make something happen. I’ll give it everything, I can promise you that."
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 11, 2021
Lewis Hamilton's race came undone at the start as he got a terrible start and dropped to P5. He'll start 4th tomorrow after Bottas' penalty.
According to Hamilton, "Well done to Valtteri on a great drive. It was a frustrating day for me, with a bad start due to too much wheel spin and then not being able to recover from there. During the race, it was difficult to get close enough to overtake the McLarens so we’ll be looking into that as well. We lost valuable points today and we’ll need to work hard to take maximum points tomorrow. It’s not the outcome we wanted for today and we can’t afford days like these, especially when it is this close in the Championships. We have work to do to analyse today’s race and prepare for tomorrow. I hope we will be able to limit the damage, and I know Valtteri and I will come out fighting."
Here’s how the boys will line up for tomorrow’s #ItalianGP. 👀
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) September 11, 2021
We’ve got the pace. Now let’s deliver the points on Sunday. 👊🔥 pic.twitter.com/czJqKXR8ti
