Bottas admits he ‘needs a miracle’ in title battle after ‘disappointing’ Eifel GP retirement

Valtteri Bottas landed in Germany with a spring in his step following an impressive victory in Russia, but he was unable to repeat the trick in Germany after a suspected MGU-H issue forced a retirement and left him “needing a miracle” in the title battle with Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton…

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Pole-sitter Bottas bullishly held off a spirited attack from Hamilton at the start to maintain the lead, but a lock-up at Turn 1 on Lap 13 saw him run wide – and Hamilton seized the advantage. He dropped to third after Max Verstappen got a free pit stop because of the Virtual Safety Car and then lost power before retiring on Lap 19.

Bottas' no score in Germany leaves him 69 points behind Hamilton – almost three race wins – with only six rounds to go in the 2020 championship.

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“It’s disappointing, of course, just very, very disappointing but it’s one of these things you cannot do anything about it,” said Bottas. “Obviously, I also had the lock up before that but, still, I had all the chances to win, because that made me go into a two-stop quite early and I think two-stops, in the end, was the best strategy.

“I knew there was still all to play for even after that lock up on the drizzle, but then came the engine thing and I couldn’t believe it.

“I understand the gap to Lewis is now pretty big in the points, so I would definitively need a miracle, but, as always, there’s no point in giving up, I have to keep the bar high for me and keep trying.”

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Despite the gap, Bottas is refusing to admit defeat just yet and is planning on taking it race-by-race from now on, starting with the Portuguese Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

“I think that’s the best mindset, there’s no point now to non-stop calculate the points for Lewis because it’s quite a big gap,” he said. “I just have to set the target for each weekend and then do everything I can for that.

“The mindset for me is to never give up [and that is] is still with me so, no chance to get out of it. Obviously, in a couple of months we’ll be a lot wiser about how the season will pan out.”