F1: Bottas 'lucky' in Raikkonen collision

Valtteri Bottas was lucky to escape his collision with Kimi Raikkonen in Formula 1's Mexican Grand Prix without any damage, Williams performance chief Rob Smedley acknowledges.

Bottas and Raikkonen clashed as they tried to go through Turns 4 and 5 side-by-side.

The impact broke Raikkonen's suspension, which put him out of the race, but the Williams driver was able to continue and finished third.

After the race, Bottas said he saw no reason to speak with Raikkonen following their second accident in three races. Raikkonen agreed and said he held "nothing against" his fellow Finn but added Bottas could have avoided the collision.

"Kimi had a massive combined impact, vertical and horizontal into the rear suspension, which it's clearly not built to cope with and that broke the right rear upon impact," said Smedley.

"We were lucky. In all seriousness, that could have resulted in us going out of the race with Valtteri doing absolutely nothing wrong."

Smedley backed his driver, saying Bottas was left with nowhere to go when Raikkonen cut across to take the corner.

"There was no room, there was absolutely no room whatsoever," he said. "He couldn't have got his car anymore on the inside car for Turn 4 going into 5.

"Valtteri gave him enough room around the outside in that first left-hander, and then if you look at the in-car there was absolutely nowhere for him to go. He already had two wheels going off the track, so he would have had to go completely off track. Kimi knew he was there because he defended the corner on the inside."

Originally on Autosport.com