Championship challenger Valtteri Bottas admitted he "had to risk it" when he buried his Mercedes into a trackside wall in a frantic conclusion to qualifying at Mexican Grand Prix.

"I knew that I had to risk it in last run to gain positions, so I tried to squeeze everything out of car," said Bottas who is only driver who can deny teammate Lewis Hamilton from securing a sixth world title.

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Bottas on where it went wrong for him 

" lap was good until last corner where I went a bit wide on exit on dusty part of track and that's where I lost it and hit wall. I'm all okay, but I've unfortunately given boys in gar some extra work to do tonight. Hopefully, we can avoid taking any penalties for tomorrow. It's anying because looking at times, I think I had a chance at qualifying third," he said. 

Bottas was checked out at circuit medical centre after crash on Saturday with his team going on to post on Twitter: "He's OK! Valtteri Bottas has returned to paddock. Great news." 

Read tweet here.

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Bottas finishes sixth in qualifying round

Bottas qualified in sixth, two places behind Hamilton for Sunday's race, but could be hit by car problems following his crash at high-speed Peraltada curve."Thankfully he's ok," said Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff. "But unfortunately his car took a bit of a beating."We're assessing dam at moment and hope that we don't have to change any parts that would result in a grid penalty. Lewis will start from P4 which is t ideal, but tomorrow will be all about tyre life, so this might create some opportunity for us." Hamilton needs to outscore Bottas by 14 points to seal his sixth title success.

Hamilton said he would "give it everything" in his scrap for a podium finish and hoped to enjoy a close battle with pole-sitter Max Verstappen of Red Bull and two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. Verstappen's performance in final minutes of qualifying when he clocked an improved lap time on his second run was under scrutiny after session as he igred a waved yellow flag following Bottas's crash. Dutchman, who could have faced a penalty if he was subject of a stewards' inquiry, said he did t care if stewards deleted his lap time as his earlier fastest lap was still eugh for him to claim pole. Asked if he had obeyed rules when he saw yellow flag and reduced speed, he said: "It didn't look like it, did it?" 

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