© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd
Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff strongly praised Valtteri Bottas for his performance at the British Grand Prix, and the part he played in Lewis’ victory.
After receiving a 10-second penalty for his collision with Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton found himself in P5. If he wanted to win the race he would have to fight through the field.
When he got to P3 on lap 31 of 52, the person standing between him and race leader Charles Leclerc was his team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Mercedes gave a team order to Valtteri to let Lewis through and he did so on lap 40, without holding him up.
Ultimately Lewis managed to hunt down Leclerc and pass him on the penultimate lap to take the win. After the race, Lewis made sure to thank Valtteri for his help.
“I’m really grateful to my team-mate,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“He really is a great team-mate and without his participation we wouldn’t have won the race.
“I was chasing down Valtteri and he was so gracious to work so well as a team-mate to allow me to pass, so I could chase the win for the team.
“That’s great sportsmanship, I really do appreciate it,” concluded the Briton.
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Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff also strongly praised the Finn for his performance.
“He had a brilliant weekend in my opinion because he could have been on pole if he would have had a tow on Friday night and that was obviously impacting his performance,” the Austrian said.
“If you’re on pole it’s much easier. And he was very quick [in the race], he drove a really solid race and just Lewis coming from behind on that Hard [tyre] was just in another dimension to everyone else on track.
“But Valtteri was the second-quickest car out there and helped for Lewis to secure the way and Valtteri’s just a great team member and great driver with the right character and personality.”
Wolff also explained why the team order call was made to Bottas.
“It is very important because statistically his odds to win the championship are very small compared to Lewis, who is very much in the fight.
“And we have discussed that, and as tough as it is for a driver, there is no room for margin here in this year’s championship,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
