Bottas unhappy with Mercedes' claims over botched pit stop at Monaco GP

Pit stops are a major part of motorsports and especially in F1, where it is mandatory to use two different compounds of tyres. Most pit stops are completed in less than 2.5 seconds. But at the Monaco Grand Prix 2021 two weeks ago Valtteri Bottas' pit stop was a complete disaster. It took the Mercedes F1 team more than 43 hours to complete the pit stop. Here is a look at what happened to Bottas at the Monaco Grand Prix 2021 and why was the Finn unhappy with the team's claims over the botched pit stop.

Valtteri Bottas pit stop Monaco GP turns into a disaster

Valtteri Bottas was having a strong outing at the Monaco Grand Prix 2021 as he qualified third and was running in second place for most of the race. However, Bottas' bizarre pit stop failure ensured that the Finn ended up with his first DNF in his career. The pit stop was the longest in F1 history as the Mercedes F1 team struggled to dislodge the right wheel from Bottas' No. 77. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing hold the fastest pit stop in F1 history with a 1.82 second stop at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix to put Bottas' pit stop time into context.

Valtteri Bottas disappointed at Mercedes F1 team for bizarrely blaming him for Monaco Grand Prix 2021 pit stop disaster

After the race, the Mercedes F1 team suggested that the slight angle caused by the manner in which Valtteri Bottas arrived in the pit was a factor in the gun not going on straight. However, the Finn was unconvinced that he had done anything wrong. When Bottas was asked whether he was surprised at Mercedes' reaction, he said, "Yes, I was surprised. I saw the video, and for me it was pretty spot on, where I stopped, so I was quite surprised."

The data showed that Bottas was only a couple of centimetres out which is well within normal tolerance levels according to the Finn. "Of course I wanted to see all the reports about where I stopped. I think I was like two or three centimetres off the central line. And, if you get that accuracy normally, it's pretty good. You know, you can easily swing by 10/15 centimetres so I thought it was pretty spot-on," explained Bottas. After a harsh setback in Monaco, Bottas will hope for a far better outing at this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2021.