Why Bottas is now 'even' with Stroll after nail-biting finish

Valtteri Bottas has joked that he and Lance Stroll are now "even" after Stroll narrowly beat him in a nail-biting race to the line at the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix.

Having dropped back in the order earlier in the race after opting not to pit under the Safety Car, Bottas made up positions during the Grand Prix and battled with Stroll in the final lap of the event.

It was ultimately Stroll who finished ahead but by a mere three hundreths of a second, putting the Aston Martin driver in ninth while Bottas claimed one point in P10.

Bottas was accepting of the outcome, particularly given that he previously beat Stroll to the line at the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix by one tenth of a second.

"I think Lance got me by three hundreths of a second. It's okay, because I got him in Baku a few years back – now he got me back, so now we're even!" Bottas joked to the F1 Nation podcast.

"I basically ran out of battery before the finish line because I had to defend him on the back straight."

Bottas sees 'light at the end of the tunnel'

Having failed to score points since the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Bottas was pleased with the outcome of his race in Montreal.

"It's been a while, [having had] a run without points, so it's always a nice feeling," the Alfa Romeo driver said.

"I think we had a decent race from where we started. [We] did everything right in terms of the strategy, and actually at times the pace was pretty encouraging, so I think, overall, [it was] a good day."

While the team have faced a more challenging start to the season than was the case in 2022, Bottas is hopeful that recent stronger results are a positive sign for what lies ahead.

"I think the last two events [have] been definitely more positive on Sundays," he explained.

"Zhou [Guanyu] got points in Barcelona with decent pace, and now it felt similar here, that we could really fight within [the] top 10.

"I see it as that we see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, and now we just need to find a bit more."