Valtteri Bottas says he’s bemused by the poor fortune pla🍌guing his 2018 Formula 1 campaign after suffering hydraulics failure with his Mercedes at the ꦆAustrian Grand Prix.

The Finnish driver stormed to a first pole position of the season at the Red Bull Ring and despite losing his lead to Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton on the opening laꦗp he looke𒅌d in a strong position midway through his opening stint.

But a sudden hydraulics issue saw him suffer a terminal gearbox issue and was forced out of the race to mark his second retirement of the season as he droppedജ to sixth in the F1 world drivers’ championship.

It marks yet another painful race for Bottas this year following a late race puncture while leading the Azerbaijan Grand Prix while he was al𝓰so hit by Sebastian Vettel at the first turn of the French Gr꧃and Prix.

“The luck I'm having this year feels like a bit of a bad joke,” Boꦫttas said. “My start was not ideal – I had quite a bit of wheel spin an🌜d there was less grip than we expected, so I dropped a few places.

“Going into♚ turn 3 I could recover two places and was back in second place. After that the car felt strong, we were running well, but then I suddenly experienced a loss of hydraulic pressure. There was ♔nothing I could have done to prevent the DNF.”

Bottas has called on his Mercedes team to resolve the issue in time for next week’s British Grand Prix, while teammate Hamilton also suffered a mechanical retirement caused by aღ fuel pressure problem, and is hopes his recent form turns around at Silverstone.

“We need to investigate and find the cause of the issues we had today, but I'm sure we will recover from this result,” he sad. “I guess it was just 🌌not meant to be today - but one day it will be.”