Mercedes explains why Bottas had so much trouble overtaking

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Valtteri Bottas had a hard time during the Russian Grand Prix, but with a bit of luck still managed to score points. Mercedes cites understeer as the cause of Bottas' problems during the race.

Before the first droplets appeared at the Sochi Autodrom, Valtteri Bottas drove well outside the points. The Finn was in fourteenth place after he was allowed to start from sixteenth place. Thanks to a perfect call from the team, Bottas exchanged his dry weather tires for the Intermediates at the right time and that ensured that he was still able to take points in Russia.

Max Verstappen fared slightly better. The Dutchman easily passed Bottas in the early stages of the race and eventually finished second. However, Bottas couldn't get close enough behind other cars and that made his overtaking race difficult. Teammate Lewis Hamilton had the same kind of problems. According to Mercedes Trackside Engineering Director Andrew Shovlin understeer was the culprit.

"In the first place, the front tires had a hard time with the cold temperatures," Shovlin told RacingNews365 after the Russian Grand Prix. "We suffered from understeer. On Friday it was the other way around, when the rear tires had the hardest to endure, in the race it was the front tires. And if you can't follow in those last four corners, you can't get close enough to catch up."

"So it was really all about the balance of the car. I think the cooler temperatures made it harder for us," said Shovlin.

Team boss Toto Wolff defended Bottas after the race. According to the Austrian, the team must also provide him with the right equipment. In Monza the Finn was able to overtake easily and according to Wolff these problems were noticeable in Russia on both sides of the garage. "I think we need to give Valtteri a car and engine that can overtake," said Wolff.

"We know the car can do it, just look at Monza, that was spectacular. Here we had more problems for whatever reason. You saw it at the beginning with Lewis that our car had a lot of understeer. And then you can can't get close enough," explains the Mercedes team boss.

"Lewis couldn't overtake the cars in front of him and Valtteri did the same. I think we need to investigate why our car struggled in traffic and worked well in free air."

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Mercedes explains why Bottas had so much trouble overtaking

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