
London - Mercedes expects an angry Valtteri Bottas to come back strongly after losing ground to team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the Formula One championship through no fault of his own in Monaco on Sunday.
The Finn is now 17 points behind the five-times world champion after finishing third in Monaco following a pitlane collision with Red Bull's Max Verstappen early in the race.
Verstappen was handed a five-second penalty for the unsafe release, a sanction that dropped the Dutchman from second to fourth.
Hamilton won, his fourth victory of the season, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel promoted to second after Verstappen's drop.
"Valtteri lost a second place, three points, and Mercedes (lost) a one-two," said team principal Toto Wolff on Sunday evening.