20/07/2020
NEWS STORY
A poor getaway meant that Valtteri Bottas, who started on the front row alongside his Mercedes teammate, had dropped to sixth by the end of the first lap, and nineteenth after stopping for slicks at the end of the second lap.
It was initially thought that the Finn had jumped the start, leading to fears the he might be penalised after fighting his way back to third but this was not the case.
Asked what happened, Bottas explained: "I don't know in detail what kind of lights went on but, I was looking at the start lights and, there was the five lights on, so really just waiting for them to go off, and just before when the lights went off, something either turned on or off, I believe it was the main page of the dash changed to different colour or something - a pretty bright colour.
"That's all what needed for me to react," he continued. "I thought the lights went off, and anyway, I was kind of half-seeing the start lights because of the Halo and the position I was, so yeah. It was an odd situation.
"That's all what I can explain now. I'm sure we're going to review on-boards and what exactly happened and I will make sure that nothing is going to be changing on the dash any more just at a crucial moment - because we don't want any distraction like that in a sensitive moment.
"That obviously made this weekend one of those inconsistent weekends that you try to avoid," he added. "But it has happened, so what can I do? Learn from this, move on, still very much in the game, it's just one bad race and if you end up on the podium in a bad race for you, that's still OK, and nothing is lost yet so there's no point for me take any hit in the confidence on anything that I'm doing.
"Otherwise it was a strong race from my side. Just a bad weekend. I'm not going to let it affect. Move on and try to gain some points in Silverstone."
Asked if he was concerned he might face a penalty, he said: " I didn't really think about it because it doesn't really change anything if you start to worry about it. It's done and the start was ruined anyway.
"I was just really focused on the race and the situation and trying to get back to the front as quickly as possible and maximise every situation.
"Then, for a while, when you don't hear anything, yeah, you think 'OK, it should be fine' and I guess you're still within the limits.
"Obviously a pretty odd situation and quite disappointing because it really compromised my race."
Check out our Race Day gallery from Budapest, here.