Valtteri Bottas’ chances of finishing Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in second place or suffering a tyre blow out were “extremely marginal” according to Mercedes.

The Finn was one of the first drivers to pit at the Barcelona circuit on Sunday, swapping his soft tyres for a set of mediums on lap 19.

But while the other early pitter, Sebastian Vettel, came in for a second stop later in the grand prix, Mercedes kept Bottas out.

That decision meant the Finn claimed second place on the day, six seconds ahead of Max Verstappen despite the Red Bull driver running fresher tyres.

“It’s fair to say that it was extremely marginal,” chief strategist James Vowles explained in a Mercedes video.

Continue Reading on planetf1.com