‘Thankfully I’m okay’ – Bottas reacts to Mexico City Grand Prix crash

Valtteri Bottas has thanked those who helped him after he walked away from a big shunt at the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend, the Finn leaving the track at Turn 1 and hitting the barriers midway through the race.

Having taken a raft of grid penalties for new PU components in his Cadillac, Bottas had started from the back of the field and was making his way forwards after pitting early to try and undercut rivals ahead. He had climbed to 17th place when the accident took place.

That was on Lap 46, with the front-left suspension appearing to break at the end of the main straight, leaving Bottas a passenger as he slid through the run off area at the first corner, hitting the barriers rearwards.

“It was a big impact going into Turn 1, but thankfully I’m okay,” Bottas revealed later on, having initially been spared some of his media duties.

“Thank you to the medical team for checking me over and to everyone who helped at the scene. It is a testament to the hard work the FIA has put in over many years to make our sport as safe as possible.

“We need to work through everything thoroughly as a team to understand exactly what happened, and make sure we learn from it. We had a strong opening lap and made up some places, so it’s disappointing not to finish another race.”

Bottas was taken to the Medical Centre for precautionary checks and released, with no indication that he won’t be fit to race in Sao Paulo.

It is not the first suspension problem Cadillac have had this year, with Sergio Perez suffering a similar problem with the front-right corner of his car in Canada.

“Firstly, everyone is relieved that Valtteri is okay after the incident on Lap 46. We will fully investigate the cause of this failure and ensure such accidents do not happen again,” Team Principal Marcin Budkowski said.

“Despite the limitations with our current package, we always aim for solid operational execution, and we have come up short today. Lots to analyse on and act on before another important race in Brazil.”

Bottas later passed his congratulations on to Kimi Antonelli, the duo remaining friends after working together at Mercedes.

"Congratulations Kimi & Mercedes," Bottas wrote on social media. "You have made the world speechless with your performance and maturity this year. So proud of you."