Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas dubbed the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ‘crazy’ as he fought back from a lap down following a first-lap collision with Kimi Raikkonen to snatch a podium.
Bottas’ race looked over as he was forced to limp back to the pits after sustaining a puncture in the clash with Raikkonen, but a succession of safety cars allowed to him to rejoin the back of the field and scythe his way through the pack.
The Finn completed a remarkable recovery drive on the run to the finish line as he powered past the Williams of Lance Stroll to take second place.
“Today was a crazy race, especially for me,” said Bottas. “I had a puncture on the first lap after the contact with Kimi on lap 1. I was a lap down, then had to overtake the field under the safety car.
“The second safety car after that really helped me out and, step by step, I moved forward from there. My main goal today was to fight for the win but that went out of the window after the first lap.”
The 27-year old says he refused to give up even as he tumbled down the order and was relieved to pick up some valuable points for Mercedes in its scrap with Ferrari.
Bottas added: “I was actually last at one point, but I got my head down, gave it absolutely everything and tried to get the absolute maximum out of every single corner.
“We didn’t quite manage to win but P2 from where we were is a great feeling. Importantly for the team, we scored more points in the fight with Ferrari and I got some good points for myself as well.”
