Valtteri Bottas has said that Pastor Maldonado's move on him in the closing stages of the Japanese Grand Prix was "risky."
The move took place at the penultimate corner of the race, the Casio Triangle chicane, and saw Bottas forced off track by his team-mate. He wasn't happy with it.
Maldonado said after the race that the move was "clean" and he was pleased with making up the position, because he was stronger than his team-mate throughout the race despite sitting behind him.
However, Bottas disagrees and feels that the move was too far. The Finn was forced off track and onto the run-off area after light wheel-to-wheel contact.
It is safe to say that the Williams camp wasn't a happy place post-race after their disappointing 16th and 17th place finishes.
Talking to AUTOSPORT about the move, Bottas said: "I was trying to block him on the inside, but he braked so late that I didn't have anywhere to go other than straight over the chicane, so it was quite risky.
"If I had kept to my line, we would have crashed for sure. Maybe it was not the fairest move, there was a big risk of colliding."
He added: "I braked late, but he braked so late that there was no space for two cars and I was on the outside and he was right on the white line so I had to go straight."
Williams chief race engineer Xevi Pujolar said after the race that there were no team orders involved: "We didn't have any team orders. All race, we had Valtteri in front and Pastor behind and we let them race and on the last lap they came close at the last corner, but that's how it is sometimes. You don't want to damage the car, but I guess it's part of racing."
The Grove based squad currently lie ninth in the constructor's standings with just one point. It is their worst season in Formula 1 since 1977, their first season in F1 where they ran a customer March car and failed to score a point.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
Maldonado said after the race that the move was "clean" and he was pleased with making up the position, because he was stronger than his team-mate throughout the race despite sitting behind him.
However, Bottas disagrees and feels that the move was too far. The Finn was forced off track and onto the run-off area after light wheel-to-wheel contact.
It is safe to say that the Williams camp wasn't a happy place post-race after their disappointing 16th and 17th place finishes.
Talking to AUTOSPORT about the move, Bottas said: "I was trying to block him on the inside, but he braked so late that I didn't have anywhere to go other than straight over the chicane, so it was quite risky.
"If I had kept to my line, we would have crashed for sure. Maybe it was not the fairest move, there was a big risk of colliding."
He added: "I braked late, but he braked so late that there was no space for two cars and I was on the outside and he was right on the white line so I had to go straight."
Williams chief race engineer Xevi Pujolar said after the race that there were no team orders involved: "We didn't have any team orders. All race, we had Valtteri in front and Pastor behind and we let them race and on the last lap they came close at the last corner, but that's how it is sometimes. You don't want to damage the car, but I guess it's part of racing."
The Grove based squad currently lie ninth in the constructor's standings with just one point. It is their worst season in Formula 1 since 1977, their first season in F1 where they ran a customer March car and failed to score a point.
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