Mercedes has revealed the challenge Valtteri Bottas faced to ensure he finished in second place at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix despite running on “extremely marginal” Formula 1 tyres. In a bid to recover the position he lost to Sebastian Vettel at the start of the race, Bottas pitted early on Lap 19 to switch onto a one-stop strategy. Although he faced the prospect of needing to complete 47 laps on Pirelli’s Medium compound, the Finn secured second.  His bid was aided when Ferrari was forced to switch Vettel onto an unplanned two-stop strategy with the German struggling with excessive tyre wear - dropping him to fourth - but Bottas still had to hold off the charging Max...
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