Bottas acknowledges he ‘got lucky’ with P2

Valtteri Bottas conceded he "got lucky" with a P2 finish at Silverstone, but hailed a "perfect strategy" to put him in with a chance of a Mercedes one-two.

The Finn started in P9 after taking on the pain for a five-place grid drop for a new gearbox, but by completing first stint on Soft tyres he was able to hunt down Sebastian Vettel and then take full advantage of Kimi Raikkonen's sudden puncture.

While Lewis Hamilton closed the gap to just one point to Vettel in the World Championship, Bottas himself is only 23 points further back in third spot.

"For us as a team it was really a perfect weekend for the circumstances," Bottas said.

"It's just amazing what we've done today, the car was so good to drive, it was really quick, the team did perfect strategy for both of us, me and Lewis.

"I started the race with Soft tyres, I had to run really long and we actually extended the first stint quite a bit because everything was still looking good.

"Towards the end on Super Softs the pace was good with the fresh tyres.

"I got through on Sebastian, and was closing on Kimi, but I think realistically he was too far away for me to get P2, so I got lucky.

"On the other hand he got unlucky to lose his second place in the end, but a 1-2 is perfect."