Chinese GP: Valtteri Bottas spin behind safety car 'a stupid mistake'

The Finn spun behind the safety car early in the race, dropping him to 12th and forcing him to battle through the field to eventually finish fifth, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton won from pole.

"Behind the safety car I was trying generate as much tyre temperature as I could," Bottas explained to TV crews after the race.

"I went too far away, I was too aggressive and made a mistake and spun, and lost so many places and time.

"After that, it was tricky for a while to get the tyres working again. I got them there eventually and then the pace was good.

"From a stupid mistake of mine, we lost so many points today."

Bottas's team boss Toto Wolff urged his new signing, who replaced world champion Nico Rosberg for this year, to move on from the error.

"He threw it away behind the safety car," Wolff told Sky Sports.

"It happens to the best, it was very slippery out there and he lost it - and that's when the race was gone.

"He just needs to recover from that now. It's the second race into the season, there are 18 more left.

"Analyse it and forget it.

"He was doing Lewis's laptimes at various stages in the race, but once you're losing so many positions and you're not in the leading pack anymore, and you have to recover mentally, that is very difficult.

"He certainly has the character to recover from such a situation.

"Lewis on his day, he's in a different league. You could see today he was without any mistakes.

"On a difficult day, in difficult conditions, there is nobody else I would like to have in the car."