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Valtteri Bottas has explained how his second place during Sunday's Styrian Grand Prix was all about 'damage limitation', after qualifying fourth on Saturday in torrential conditions.
Bottas' teammate Lewis Hamilton took both pole position and the race victory over the weekend, which Bottas believed was important that the team acquired its first 1-2 finish of the season.
Speaking on his performance over the weekend, he noted that Saturday could have been better from his side, but finishing second place allows him to hold onto his championship lead as F1 moves on to Hungary.
"Yeah for sure, Saturday's are always [important], especially when it's going to be a dry race, it's important," Bottas said.
"Obviously, yesterday was not ideal from my side, so today was a bit of a damage limitation. I think in the end it was not bad and It could have been worse.
"It's the first 1-2 for us as a team, that's obviously really strong and I'll take the learning and move on."
Battle with Verstappen 'quite interesting'
Bottas also enjoyed his battle with Red Bull's Max Verstappen, with the Dutchman eventually losing second in the closing laps as he suffered from front wing damage.
Bottas mounted a charge on Verstappen through turn three near the end of the race but was initially unable to get by. However, Bottas admitted he enjoyed the fight and was happy to get past in the end.
"It really kept the race quite interesting for me," Bottas added.
"I always had a clear target on what to chase and it helps with the concentration and keeping up the pace and finding those little things.
"So, that made it exciting and I'm glad I got him in the end. I had one go that didn't quite work but at least the second time it was okay."
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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