Bottas backs Alfa Romeo podium risk despite drop-off

Valtteri Bottas has revealed Alfa Romeo took a risk in order to try and steal a podium at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Finn has been consistently the best-of-the-rest behind the Ferraris, Red Bulls and Mercedes this season and found himself running third on an alternative strategy at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after Lewis Hamilton suffered a puncture, Carlos Sainz spun into the gravel and Charles Leclerc retired with a power unit issue.

But trying to stretch a set of medium tyres to the end of the 66-lap event on a two-stop strategy, Bottas was overhauled by the three-stopping Hamilton and Sainz, after already being passed by George Russell, Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.

"When you are in those positions and things are going smoothly and you see things are going smoothly and you see things happening to other cars you are thinking 'It could be our day'," said Bottas.

"But strategy-wise we took a risk. We left the last stint to be very long, but in the end it was too long. The tyres died towards the end.

"We tried. We had the chance to choose - 'Are we going to be best of the rest or are we going to try something more?'

"So we tried something different. It didn't work out but the risk was pretty minimal. There was not that much threat from behind."

Asked if he would have had any chance to have taken a maiden podium with Alfa Romeo had he also been on a three-stop plan, Bottas insisted: "There was not quite enough pace.

"But maybe with the issues Lewis had towards the end we would have been a bit shorter on the last stint.

"Maybe it could have been possible but anyway, it is still good points."

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