Valtteri Bottas f😼elt he was “unlucky but also a bit lucky” to still finish third following his pit lane cl𝐆ash with Max Verstappen during Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix that he believed would ruin his hopes of a decent points finish.

Bottas ran second in Monaco behind Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in the early stages of the race, bu🐷t was leapfrogged by Verstappen in the pits behind the Safety Car.

Ver🎉stappen and Bottas ran side-by-side momentarily in the pits shortly after the Red Bull driver’s release, only for the Mercedes to be squeezed into the wall, leaving him with a🔯 puncture.

Bottas was forced to pit again on the following lap after sustaining a puncture iཧn the clash, costing him two positions, but he nevertheless finished the race third after Verstappen was handed a time p🍌enalty for the incident.

“Th♓at was really the thing that made this race more difficult,” Bottas s൩aid.

“I don’t know the reason why the stop was slow, and then Max 🗹was sort of alongside me in the pitlane. He had been behind before, but in the pit lane he was slightly ahead. We were side-by-side but he kept coming to the right, so we touched. I also touched the wall because there was no space and got a puncture for that.

“I thought that having to stop again, I would be down at the back of the field, but ended up jus♔t losing out to ꦗSeb. So, I was unlucky but also a bit lucky.

“It could have ended up worse, these are still iܫmportant points. But it’s disappointing, going backwards from your starting position.”

Asked if he felt Verstappen’sᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ five-second time penalty was a fair ruling, Bottas said: “It’s a tricky one because there was never going to be a way I could get back what I lost.

“The only thing I could get back was Max’s place due to the penalty he got, but there was no way I was goi🏅ng to get back the position I lost to Sebastian.

“I think he got his penalty, and i⛎t’s OK. No more point in talking about that.”

Bottas revealed after the race that he briefly thought Verstappen was going to hit him as tꦛhey went side-by-side at Turn 1 on the opening lap, only to pull ahead exiting Sainte Devote.

“Max obviously h🉐ad a great start from the inside line and was there for Turn 1, but I knew that 💙if stayed on the outside and could carry more speed I would be OK,” Bottas said.

“There was a small moment, at mid-corner, where I was expꩲecting him to hit me, but he didn’t and I was happy with that –ཧ job done.”