<p>Valtteri Bottas railed at Mercedes' strategy on Sunday in a radio message accusing the Formula One champions of not listening to him.</p>.<p>The Finn finished a frustrated fourth in a French Grand Prix won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, whose gamble on stopping twice paid off while Mercedes paid the price for staying out on fading tyres.</p>.<p>"Why...does no one listen to me when I say it's going to be a two-stopper?!," Bottas, whose contract is up at the end of the season, said in a radio outburst featuring several expletives.</p>.<p>Bottas had failed to score in the previous two races in Monaco and Azerbaijan and the failure to defend at least a podium place hurt.</p>.<p>"I think the winning strategy today was two stop. Easy to say afterwards but that's how it is," he said. "I think as a team we're too focused on just completing the one stop, thinking it's the best. But it wasn't.</p>.<p>"I had no front tyres left for the last 10-15 laps so it was really just trying to get the car home. It was not fun today, the last stint.</p>.<p>"If I did a two stop, for sure I would have been on the podium and fighting for the win."</p>.<p>Red Bull's Sergio Perez, on fresher tyres after a later stop than Bottas, took third in the closing laps.</p>.<p>Bottas had plenty of margin towards the end to pit without losing position, and have a shot at taking fastest lap from Verstappen, but Mercedes kept him out so he also missed out on that bonus point.</p>.<p>Team boss Toto Wolff said that was because it looked like Perez might collect a penalty for overtaking outside of the track limits and they wanted Bottas to remain within five seconds of the Mexican.</p>.<p>In the end, stewards decided not to punish Perez.</p>.<p>"We gambled, we lost," said Wolff.</p>
<p>Valtteri Bottas railed at Mercedes' strategy on Sunday in a radio message accusing the Formula One champions of not listening to him.</p>.<p>The Finn finished a frustrated fourth in a French Grand Prix won by Red Bull's Max Verstappen, whose gamble on stopping twice paid off while Mercedes paid the price for staying out on fading tyres.</p>.<p>"Why...does no one listen to me when I say it's going to be a two-stopper?!," Bottas, whose contract is up at the end of the season, said in a radio outburst featuring several expletives.</p>.<p>Bottas had failed to score in the previous two races in Monaco and Azerbaijan and the failure to defend at least a podium place hurt.</p>.<p>"I think the winning strategy today was two stop. Easy to say afterwards but that's how it is," he said. "I think as a team we're too focused on just completing the one stop, thinking it's the best. But it wasn't.</p>.<p>"I had no front tyres left for the last 10-15 laps so it was really just trying to get the car home. It was not fun today, the last stint.</p>.<p>"If I did a two stop, for sure I would have been on the podium and fighting for the win."</p>.<p>Red Bull's Sergio Perez, on fresher tyres after a later stop than Bottas, took third in the closing laps.</p>.<p>Bottas had plenty of margin towards the end to pit without losing position, and have a shot at taking fastest lap from Verstappen, but Mercedes kept him out so he also missed out on that bonus point.</p>.<p>Team boss Toto Wolff said that was because it looked like Perez might collect a penalty for overtaking outside of the track limits and they wanted Bottas to remain within five seconds of the Mexican.</p>.<p>In the end, stewards decided not to punish Perez.</p>.<p>"We gambled, we lost," said Wolff.</p>