16/11/2020
NEWS STORY
If Lewis Hamilton won the 2020 title in the best possible fashion, it's fair to say that teammate, Valtteri Bottas lost it in the worst possible way.
A spin at the first corner was a portent of what was to come, as the Finn had no less than five more spins over the course of the afternoon.
Though his hopes of claiming the title were slim, surely nobody expected the Finn to finish a lap down on his teammate, suffering the added indignity of receiving multiple blue flags in the process.
"I had the spin in the first corner," Bottas told reporters. "I was avoiding one of the Renault spins, then I had the collision in Turn nine on the same lap.
"The car was not right," he continued. "I could feel that the steering wheel was going to the left on a straight line, and then in the left corners, the car was behaving differently, sliding.
"All the moments I had, it was not like how it should be," he admitted. "It was a messy race, a disastrous race.
"Obviously I was trying to push as hard as I could, because there was nothing to lose for me today," he said, suggesting that some of the later spins were due to him feeling he had nothing to lose. "When I dropped back I was pushing as hard as I could, made mistakes, and for sure with the damage as well, made it quite tricky.
"It could be the most difficult race I've had in Formula One so far, and also the result."
Told in the final stages of the race that there were just four laps remaining, he replied: "I wish it was less".
Check out our Sunday gallery from Istanbul, here.