Mercedes salute Bottas 'perfection'

Mercedes chief technical officer James Allison has claimed Valtteri Bottas 'could not have been more perfect' in his victory drive in Turkey.

Bottas ended a year-long winless drought with a Turkish Grand Prix triumph that was achieved in commanding style.

Asked if Bottas could have run a less-perfect race after beating Max Verstappen by 14.5 seconds, Allison replied: “I think I prefer to ask that question the other way around: Could it have been more perfect? The answer is no.

"He didn’t put a foot wrong. That was a majestic performance, commanding from the front and with great skill in very difficult conditions - skill that required him not to be too greedy at any point in the race.

"He knew he had a fast car, he knew he had spent the weekend getting it really nicely balanced and he knew he had a fantastic opportunity of a win.

"He also knew, however, the margin between a really competitive performance in the car and a tyre disaster is very fine.

"A little bit of heavy right foot, a bit of clumsiness here or there would have seen the tyre damaged to a point where the inherent advantage of the car would all have washed away to nothing."

Although Hamilton's fifth-place finish saw Verstappen return to the top of the drivers' standings, Bottas' win increased Mercedes' constructors' lead by three points to 36 over Red Bull.

"He drove a very, very controlled race, well within himself, just eking out a small amount over Verstappen behind to protect himself, allowing that gap to grow to first two, then three, then four seconds as the race progressed," added Allison.

"Very, very commanding, mature performance and especially after the pit stop.

"He was full of beaming smiles afterwards and with absolute justification. It was a great, great performance and brilliant for the team.”

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