Bottas: I was doing all I could to keep Sebastian behind

Although Valtteri Bottas suffered a DNF in the Spanish Grand Prix, the Finn played an important role in ensuring that his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton won the race.

Bottas kept Sebastian Vettel behind him for several laps until the Ferrari driver executed a daring overtake, to get past the Finn, but the German had lost valuable time in the duel between the two and in the end fell short of seriously challenging Hamilton.

Bottas explained, "I was doing all I could to keep Sebastian behind and make him lose time, that's how it goes. That was my job and mission at that point. But the pace difference was too big and eventually he got past."

"But I definitely helped the team today. I hope it made a bit of a difference and at least we managed as a team to grow the small points difference to Ferrari which is good. But it could have been a lot bigger with both of us finishing strong."

Bottas was involved in a first lap melee, which resulted in contact and the immediate retirement of Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Although the Mercedes continued, Bottas was forced to park the car with engine problems on lap 38.

"The start was good," recalled Bottas. "The getaway was nice and I was catching up pretty quickly on the guys in front, but this time there was nowhere to go really. I was looking first to go left but there wasn't quite enough space.

"I tried to go inside because there was a gap initially, but then Sebastian closed it so I was stuck behind him. Going in to turn one I was trying to keep inside, obviously the guys on the outside always try to overtake you and it was unlucky that me and Kimi collided.

"It was just all a bit too tight and close, and a shame what happened to the guys after. But in racing when it's close sometimes you hit and that's how it goes. I was trying to keep my position and I felt there was no more space for two cars, so it was very close."

"After the contact I really struggled in the first stint. I should have finished on the podium so it's very disappointing, but we took a risk going to the old engine [after discovering a water leak in Friday practice]."

"We knew it was running out of mileage but that was the only option we could have done to qualify, so that's life," explained Bottas who still lies third in the championship standings, albeit 41 points adrift of Vettel and 35 down on Hamilton.