MAY 29, 2013

Sauber knocks Bottas as unsportsmanlike

Valtteri Bottas has been accused of "unsportsmanlike" behaviour in the dying moments of the Monaco grand prix.

Valtteri Bottas has been accused of unsportsmanlike behaviour in the dying moments of the Monaco grand prix.

In the last two laps, when Kimi Raikkonen was seething through the field on fresh Pirelli rubber following his late pitstop, the Finn managed to salvage a solitary point by making up three places to finish tenth.

One of the cars he passed was countryman Bottas, who appeared to pull over for the title-charging Raikkonen.

That allowed the Lotus driver to stroll past Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg, who on worn Pirelli tyres that were showing the steel belt beneath therefore missed the final championship point by mere metres.

To Blick newspaper, Sauber team manager Beat Zehnder slammed Bottas' behaviour towards the charging Raikkonen as "unsportsmanlike".

Team founder Peter Sauber added: "He (Bottas) stole a point from us."

Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, however, claims Bottas told reporters after the race that he only pulled over for Raikkonen because he thought the black Lotus was the leader.

(GMM)