Valtteri Bottas was buzzing with his victory at the Russian Grand Prix after revealing he was prevented from passing Lewis Hamilton at the start because of a "massive bee" on his visor. 

Bottas triumphed in Sochi to claim his second success of the 2020 season, in the process closing the gap on Mercedes team-mate Hamilton to 44 points in the standings. 

World champion Hamilton was handed two five-second penalties from the stewards for an illegal practice start and Bottas took full advantage, finishing comfortably clear of runner-up Max Verstappen. 

However, the Finn initially got off to a shaky start as he failed to overtake his colleague on the opening lap. He missed his braking point, which he later revealed was down to an unlikely distraction. 

"I tried [to overtake]," he said in his post-race interview. "I knew the start was going to be the first opportunity.  

"Actually, it was a bit compromised because there was like a massive bee or something that hit my visor as I was braking. 

"I couldn't really see when I should brake. So that's why I went too deep. But I knew it was going be a long race after that and, with the medium tyre, I had opportunities.  

"But obviously Lewis had penalties, so once I was in clean air I felt the pace was pretty awesome and I could really control everything." 

Verstappen also profited from Hamilton's penalties and was left feeling satisfied with his second-place finish having rarely threatened at any stage to mount a serious challenge to Bottas. 

"I was just trying do my own race. I think we did everything well, and I'm very happy with second," he said. 

"After the restart I think we were a little bit slow on the medium, but once we went onto the hard tyre, I think we were a little bit more competitive, so I'm happy about that. 

"To be able to split the Mercedes' cars again, I think we can be pleased with that."