Villeneuve: Bottas isn't going to get better, he's just too slow

Former Formula 1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has branded Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas too slow following his collision with youngster George Russell at Imola.

Bottas and Russell came together midway through the Emilia Romagna GP, with each putting the blame on the other, though Mercedes team principle Toto Wolff felt that Russell should have acted differently as he tried to the Finn.

"I don't quite understand Toto Wolff," Villeneuve told F1-Insider.com. "Why does he blame the young Brit in the collision with Mercedes junior Russell?

"Bottas knew exactly that his potential successor was about to overtake him and risked a serious accident with his short move to the right.

"He mustn't do that under these difficult track conditions.

"But this shows how tense Bottas is already in the second race of the season. And that's not going to get any better. Because he is simply too slow.

"If he wasn't, he wouldn't have had to defend his position so over-hard against a Williams."