F1 star Valtteri Bottas met with awkward silence after 'hotel' joke to Vladimir Putin

dailystar.co.uk:

Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton race you, would normally be Valtteri Bottas’ most terrifying part of his day. However, the Finnish driving sensation’s adrenaline would have almost soared through his helmet after a terribly awkward exchange with Vladimir Putin.Bottas was addressed by the Russian president after winning his first ever race at the 2017 Russian Grand Prix.

He conversed with Putin alongside Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, who finished second and third respectively.But this day may linger in Bottas’ memory for his tense exchange with Putin more so than his first ever F1 victory.Putin met the racers shortly after their heroics in Sochi.While talking through a translator, Putin highlighted how pleased he was that crowd numbers had substantially increased since Russia’s first grand-prix in 2014.“We are getting more and more fans in Formula One,” Putin started.“And I already told my colleague that all the hotels are booked in Sochi for now.” Who do you think will win the coming F1 World Championship?

Let us know in the comments“Build more hotels” Bottas swiftly interrupted while the translator was mid-flow. After a brief moment of silence and, perhaps, some nervous involuntary movements on Bottas’ part, Putin and his translator went back to highlighting their joy of F1.The translator concluded: “But unlike other countries that have long had a scene of the F1 events, we now witness the growing number of fans.”Putin was reunited with the drivers later on when he presented their trophies at the podium.

But the Russian president will not be awarding any more F1 titles, after the FIA decided to strip the Sochi Grand Prix away from Russia, after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. "We are watching the.