© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
At the Spanish Grand Prix Mercedes asked Valtteri Bottas to move over for Lewis Hamilton, while they were on different strategies. The Finn didn’t seem to fully comply.
At the time Hamilton was fighting Max Verstappen for the win and needed to make-up for around 20 seconds. Bottas was however fighting with Charles Leclerc over P3, and was trying to build a gap to fourth-placed Leclerc.
The Finn seemed to be holding Hamilton up a bit, and the Briton had to perform what appeared to be a legitimate overtaking manoeuvre. After the race Bottas said he could have let Hamilton pass him earlier, but he wasn’t “here to let people by”.
After the race Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said he understood where the Finn was coming from, and the fact that Hamilton ultimately managed to win the race made the whole situation less problematic.
“Racing drivers, their instincts are what they are,” the Austrian said.
“We would have wished that maybe, because Lewis was on a totally different strategy, he would have come through faster, but in the end, we scored the result.
“I can relate to Valtteri that he had a tough day again and you’re annoyed. If it would have lost us the race I would be more critical but in the end, this is something we can learn off.”
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Wolff acknowledged the fact that Bottas at the time was in a fight of his own, with Charles Leclerc.
“It goes both directions, and this is what we will be discussing but in a very camaraderie sort of way.”
The Austrian was then asked about Valtteri’s “mental state” after another relatively disappointing race.
“In the mental state I would say he is very strong and he is in a good place, he keeps scoring.
“In qualifying, it was three drivers within the tenths, the weekend before he was on pole, so his speed is enormous.
“It’s just when things go wrong at the start, or you’re in a gaggle of cars and you lose time to the leaders, that’s basically a KO.
“Behind Charles, I don’t know how much he lost, he will know better, 20 seconds or so.
“And then obviously it’s where you are, you’re third on the road at best,” concluded Wolff.
