Finnish civil war as Bottas and Raikkonen tangle again

F1 News
Monday, 02 November 2015 at 11:55
kimi raikkonen valtteri bottas 2015 meksiko kolari
Valtteri Bottas turned the tables on compatriot Kimi Raikkonen at the Mexican Grand Prix on Sunday when the pair collided for the second time in three races.
In last month's Russian Grand Prix, Raikkonen shunted Bottas into the barriers on the last lap while trying to pass to secure third place.
The time penalty Raikkonen collected for that move demoted him to eighth after the race and allowed Mercedes to retain their constructor's title. It also handed Mexican Sergio Perez his first podium finish of the year with Force India.
In Mexico, it was Bottas who was trying to overtake Raikkonen on the inside at turn four on lap 22 when his front left tyre and Raikkonen's rear right tangled.
The Ferrari driver was bounced out with suspension damage ending is race on the spot. The stewards investigated and decided to take no further action.
"All OK with the car?" asked Bottas over the team radio as he continued on his way.
"Looks good. He just cut you up and left you no space," was the reply.
Mexican Grand Prix, Mexico City 29 October - 1 November 2015
Raikkonen's race had been troubled before the start, when he was demoted to the back row with a 35-place penalty for a change of gearbox and power unit elements.
Bottas, who started in sixth place and ended third said afterwards, "Regarding the incident with one of the Ferraris, it was unlucky that it was me and him [Raikkonen] again but of course I didn’t want it to end up like that."
Raikkonen said post race, "About the accident with Bottas, there are always two different ways to look at things, everybody can have their own view, but to be honest I did not expect a much different end result. It’s racing in the end, but I think I was expecting that it probably might happen after Russia."
"If he had gone more onto the kerb, there would have been space. I couldn't go straight -- I had to turn the wheel at some point. But it was a racing situation. He did what he did and nothing changes now even if we talk about it. The press always wants someone to blame, but there is no point."
"Has he done it on purpose? I don’t know, you can decide yourselves, it doesn’t change the final outcome right now and it’s not going to change anything for me for the future," added the veteran Ferrari driver.
"That is what you call payback," former F1 driver David Coulthard commented on the BBC in the aftermath of the incident.
loading

Loading