Bottas claims Verstappen 'definitely ruined' Q3 lap

Valtteri Bottas feels that Max Verstappen "definitely ruined" his first flying lap during the final stage of Formula 1 qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday, with the Red Bull driver set to face the stewards over his part in the incident.

Verstappen opted to back off in order to warm his tyres up for a second flying lap early in Q3 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, only for Bottas - still only a flying lap - to come across the Dutchman entering the stadium section.

Bottas claims Verstappen 'definitely ruined' Q3 lap

Valtteri Bottas feels that Max Verstappen "definitely ruined" his first flying lap during the final stage of Formula 1 qualifying for the Mexican Grand Prix on Saturday, with the Red Bull driver set to face the stewards over his part in the incident.

Verstappen opted to back off in order to warm his tyres up for a second flying lap early in Q3 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, only for Bottas - still only a flying lap - to come across the Dutchman entering the stadium section.

While Verstappen moved his car to the left-hand side of the circuit to try and move off the racing line, Bottas felt he was impeded as he came across the Red Bull on-track, causing him to lock up at the next corner due to turbulent air.

Verstappen is set to face the stewards over the incident, but Bottas made his feelings perfectly clear after the session.

"I was at the end of my quick lap and I could already see, before I came into the last sector, that he was going quite slow," Bottas explained.

"Then he was just going slow at the exit of Turn 12 and that compromised my line a little bit for Turn 13.

"I had a lock up there, so it definitely ruined my lap."

When asked if Verstappen deserved a penalty, Bottas said: "I don’t know. It’s not up to me. I don’t know what the rulebook says exactly.

"but what I know for a fact is that it ruined my lap, so I only had one attempt, instead of two, in Q3."

Bottas still managed to qualify fourth with a quick final lap in Q3, finishing narrowly behind Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, and the Finn is pleased with how the weekend has been going.

"All weekend has been quite positive, so we’re just a couple of hundreds of a second apart in the end," Bottas said.

"But I also kept something in reserve during the last run, just in case, because my previous lap had been wrecked, so I couldn’t take too many risks."

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