Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas says George Russell's debut with the team at the Sakhir Grand Prix left the Finn looking like a "complete c—" and a "fool."
Russell was on track to win his first race as Lewis Hamilton's stand-in, before a late pit-stop blunder by the team cost both drivers dearly.
Although Bottas edged out Russell by the barest of margins for pole position, the 22-year-old took the lead at the start and gave an assured performance, at one stage opening up an eight second advantage over his more experienced teammate.
Bottas was catching Russell when a late safety car, ironically caused by Russell's replacement at Williams, resulted in Mercedes calling both drivers into the pits.
The pit stop, later described by team boss Toto Wolff as a "colossal f— up," ruined the race for both drivers, with Bottas eventually finishing eight and Russell ninth.
As Wide World of Sports examined last week, Bottas was on a hiding to nothing in Hamilton's absence. A dominant win was nothing less than what was expected, while questions would be asked if Russell, with no experience in the Mercedes, pushed Bottas over the weekend.
The Finn, who is contracted to Mercedes until the end of 2021, says those that don't follow the sport closely wouldn't understand the full picture.
"If you don't know things, I might have looked like a complete c—, a fool, so that's not nice," said Bottas.
"But the people who know, they know how the performance [was] and how the end result could have been.
"It was a pretty bad race for me from that side and it will be very easy for people to say that a new guy comes in and beats the guy who has been in the team a few years, so it was not ideal."
Bottas said losing the lead at the start was far from ideal, but pointed out he was gaining on Russell after the pair's first pit stops.
"I knew that in the first stint with the medium tyre that the track position would be important, so obviously it was unfortunate to lose that, but in the second stint I was catching him at a pretty decent rate," he explained.
"I knew everything was still going to be open and that most likely we were going to have a good battle. He obviously did a mistake-free race, but I still knew there would be everything to play for.
"I was confident, based on what I felt with the hard tyre, the car was more complete balance-wise. I knew there was going to be other opportunities and that was ultimately the plan for me, to get him, and it was getting close.
"The race was not finished when we had the thing with the pit stops, which changed everything. I managed to go a bit longer on the medium tyre and that would have opened up opportunities for me. I was catching him."
It's still unclear whether or not Russell will get another chance with Mercedes at this weekend's season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Sky Sports reporter Ted Kravitz said after the Sakhir race that an email from the FIA's COVID delegate said anyone who contracted COVID-19 in Bahrain would not be allowed into Abu Dhabi.
"On the face of it, that email which seems to be genuine would preclude Lewis Hamilton from being able to go to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix," he said.
"What Mercedes are saying is it all depends on whether Lewis is feeling well enough. In effect, the rules are secondary to the fact he might not want to go driving because he doesn't feel well enough because he still has the virus."
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