F1 | Mexico GP | Bottas “I have my fingers crossed, that's it for the engine penalties for me...”
Valtteri Bottas says that Mercedes has been working hard to learn from the previous years at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit and he hopes to not face another engine penalty for the race.
After a 6th place result at the United States Grand Prix, Valtteri Bottas is heading into the Mexican GP cautiously with hopes that he will not need to take on another engine part resulting in another penalty. While all the F1 teams missed out on The Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit last season due to COVID, Bottas believes that the Red Bull team may have a slight advantage since the track has not been a strong one for Mercedes over the past couple of years.
When Bottas was asked about how competitive he thinks the Mercedes team will be for the race weekend he replied:
“It's honestly hard to know because it's two years since we've been here. And you know, tires are different track Surfaces has evolved in two years. Engines are different costs are different, so hard to predict but normally its a pretty good track for Red Bull.”
“Maybe it has not been really the strength in the past years for us. But we've obviously been working hard on trying to learn the lessons from previous years and see how we compare but I think it's gonna be really close again like it's been pretty much everywhere.”
After taking his 6th ICE unit in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas, the Finn defends the Mercedes team and states that they have been working diligently towards finding the answers needed to prevent another engine penalty for the season.
“The team has been working so hard on this case, and I think we're getting more confidence on what is actually happening and how to prevent things and I have my fingers crossed, that's it for the engine penalties for me, but we will see as we go but for now, everything's good.”
Bottas is currently 3rd in the driver’s standings behind his team-mate Lewis Hamilton and just ahead of Red Bull driver Sergio Perez. However, with a 35-point lead over the Mexican driver, Bottas is staying focused on his task at hand to score as many points as possible for the team.
“If I'm honest, I don't even know the point situation is. I know I’m third. I don't know the gaps,” replied Bottas.
“I think I don't really think about it that way I just try to stay ahead and look ahead to try to score maximum points for the team and for myself. So I really don't think about it that way.”
