Valtteri Bottas’s race at the Bahrain Grand Prix took a disastrous turn due to a slow pit-stop caused by a wheel nut issue. Bottas described it as his “second worst pit-stop in history,” attributing the problem to a cross-threaded wheel nut.
During his second pit-stop of the season-opener, Bottas encountered a significant delay lasting nearly a minute. The front-left wheel nut became cross-threaded, prompting the team to frantically search for a solution.
Despite the efforts, Bottas was only able to resume his race after a prolonged halt, ultimately finishing in 19th place. He drew parallels to his past experience at the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, highlighting the recurring nature of such issues.
Mercedes, calling Bottas in from second place, faced a setback when the right-front wheel nut refused to come off the W12. This complication prevented the team from completing the stop, forcing Bottas to retire from what seemed like a certain podium finish.
The situation escalated when Mercedes struggled to remove the wheel nut even after the car returned to Brackley, with nearly two days passing before a resolution was reached. Consequently, Bottas now holds the unenviable record for the slowest pit-stop in the history of Formula 1.
This unfortunate incident wasn’t Bottas’s first encounter with pit-stop troubles. He endured a botched and protracted stop at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix when Mercedes mistakenly fitted George Russell’s tires to his car, a violation of the regulations.
When questioned about the incident, Bottas responded, “It was a front-left wheel nut issue, it seems like something got stuck or cross-threaded.
“We will investigate and now the main thing is to understand because it shouldn’t happen.
“It was my second-worst pit-stop in history, so hopefully it’s not the same spec wheel-nut!”
Regarding his race, Bottas explained that he found himself in a challenging situation likened to being in a “sandwich” at Turn 1. It appeared that he made contact with Nico Hulkenberg, who subsequently nudged Lance Stroll into a spin.
As a result of the incident, Bottas sustained damage to his front-wing end-plate.
He further stated; “The first corner was a bit of a sandwich, like it was almost a full stop at the apex.
“It was a couple of times, stop, start and go again or somebody else will hit me from behind, so it was a bit of a sandwich.
“I got some front-wing damage, which actually didn’t feel like it had that huge of an effect, but the main thing is that I was at the back of the train – and then the pitstop was 52 seconds in a tight midfield. “You can’t really give [away] 52 seconds in a pit-stop.”
