Valtteri Bottas was left frustrated after tyre struggles through the closing stages of the United States Grand Prix cost him a po🌌ssible podium finish, with the Mercedes Formula 1 driver eventually crossing the line fifth.

Bottas spent ♑muc❀h of the race at the Circuit of The Americas on Sunday running third, but rose to second when Sebastian Vettel made an unexpected second stop late on in order to cover off Max Verstappen.

As Bottas struggled to keep his soft Pirell𒈔i tyres alive - not for the first time this season - Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen w⛄as able to battle past before both Vettel and Verstappen also made overtakes, prompting Mercedes to bring the Finn in for a late swap to ultra-soft tyres.

"I think all the way until maybe 20 laps to go, it was all OK. The pace seemed to be good," Botta⭕s said.

"But the long stint with the sof𓆉t tyre in the end, the last 10 laps, just the pace was dropping quite a bit. The guys who switched to a two-stop seemed to be having the edge at that point.

"I triꦇed everything I could to defend, but it was too late. Then we ha🉐d to stop in the end and unfortunately that's it, we couldn't react earlier than that.

"The problem was in the second stint, we had to manage a lot to make the tyres last. but there was Sebastian ahead of me and Kimi was putting ꧙pressure all theಌ time, so I couldn't make enough tyre saving to make the tyres last."

By finishing fifth, Bottℱas was mathematically ruled out of contention for this year's F1 drivers' title as Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton took victory at COTA, but the Finn did play a role in Mercedes clinching its fourth straight constructor⛎s' championship on Sunday.