Valtteri Bottas has labelled Max Verstappen’s driving ‘not fair’ after the two tangled in a battle for third during the latter stages of the Italian Grand Prix.
The collision happened as Bottas was attacking the Red Bull in the closing stages of the race. Having made his pitstop considerably later, after holding up Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen towards the end of an extended first stint, Bottas had fresher soft compound tyres than Verstappen.
He made his move into the first chicane, around the outside of the Red Bull driver, before Verstappen moved across in the braking zone. The pair collided, banging wheels and forcing Bottas down the escape road.
Verstappen was given a five-second time penalty by the stewards which saw him demoted to fifth after he decided to continue to fight Bottas when the Mercedes caught up and lost more time. Verstappen expressed his frustration with the penalty over the radio.
His radio message to the team had to be censored by the FIA, – “I gave him space. They’re doing a great job of killing racing, honestly.”
Bottas was critical during the podium interviews, suggesting Verstappen’s racing wasn’t fair, “I was really trying to do everything I can to get to the podium.
“First my mission was to hold up Kimi [Raikkonen] for a while but then to end up on the podium.
“It was hard racing, sometimes not as fair as I was hoping for so he got a penalty and I’m on the podium.”
Verstappen was also handed two penalty points on his superlicense in addition to his time penalty. He now has five points in total on his superlicence, where 12 in a rolling 12 month period brings a race ban.
