Valtteri Bottas says he is “disappointed” with ninth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix, after a dramatic race that included the Finn making contact with Lewis Hamilton.
The Williams driver attempted to pass Hamilton on the opening lap but they collided at the first corner. Bottas picked up front wing damage and was later handed a drive-through penalty.
He recovered to score points with ninth but was also handed two penalty points on his license by the stewards.
"I was expecting more from today and finishing ninth is a bit disappointing," he said. "I had a mega start, but unfortunately collided with Lewis in turn one which was a shame as it cost us both positions.
"The drive-through penalty then compromised our strategy a bit so it was always going to be difficult after that. I also damaged my front wing in that collision with a big piece missing which didn’t help our pace.
"The first two races of the season haven’t been great for us but we’re keeping upbeat and head to the next race hoping to make up for it."
Team-mate Felipe Massa tried a two-stop strategy but ultimately fell to eighth: "I had such a great start, going from seventh to second, but unfortunately the two-stop strategy didn’t work as expected and our pace on the medium tyre was not very good.
"This allowed others on softer tyres to get ahead and stay there. We started the weekend expecting more so it’s been a disappointing result, but hopefully we can learn from this weekend and have a better result in China."
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