Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has said George Russell has “quite a theory” over the pair’s hair-raising crash at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix yesterday after the Williams driver said the Finn would have acted differently in the same situation towards other drivers. Russell has blamed Bottas for the incident, saying that the Mercedes driver forced him onto the wet part of the track as he went for an overtake fighting for P9 which ultimately caused him to spin and collide with the other car. However, Bottas has dismissed the Williams driver’s "theory" that he would have acted differently towards other drivers on the grid given that the two are widely seen to be competing for the second Mercedes seat next season. "I’m sorry I lost my aluminium foil hat somewhere. That’s quite a theory," Bottas told RacingNews365.com and select members of the press after the race. "No, I’m always going to defend. To any driver I’m not keen to lose any positions. That was normal defending, it could have been a lot more aggressive if needed. I don’t agree with any of that at all, I was doing my thing and no matter who I would have been defending it would have been the same." The Finn added that Russell was well aware of the track conditions on that part of the circuit, and that it was the WIlliams driver’s decision to go for the move. "Obviously, he knew exactly that it was going to be damp there, because we go around lap after lap, and I knew as well and it’s just not the place to go in those conditions on slicks," he said. "But he still went there and it was his choice to go there and I was doing my job trying to defend and I’m not going to move away and give him the dry patch, that’s how it goes."
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