F1 News
Wolff backs Bottas to recover in Canada
- Jake Williams-Smith
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has backed Valtteri Bottas to bounce back at the Canadian Grand Prix after losing out to teammate Lewis Hamilton in Monaco.
The Mercedes duo were comfortably fastest around the street circuit but it was Hamilton who won pole and converted it into a race victory having looked a shade off of Bottas during qualifying.
Speaking after the race, Wolff insisted that the result would drive Bottas on to hit back in Canada in a fortnights time.
“Valtteri 2019 is going to get out of this stronger,” Wolff told Crash.net.
“I think he has shown huge resilience and determination in these last races.
“His speed was mind-blowing in qualifying and I have no doubt that this will annoy the hell out of him and he’s going to come back strong, very very strong, in Montreal.
“Max lost a position because of the penalty and because of the manoeuvre, and Valtteri lost the second place, three points more lost, and Mercedes lost the 1-2.
“But then again, from the team’s point of view we are super happy with the 1-3. From Valtteri’s point, he will be gutted. He had the pace this weekend. He could’ve had pole in terms of raw speed and in the race P2 was the minimum I think.
“He was feeling this was taken away from him.”