F1 | Spanish GP | Toto Wolff on Bottas ignoring team orders: “I would have been more critical" if Hamilton lost the victory
Bottas was reluctant to give Hamilton his place and Wolff noticed it and condemned it in the media conference that MotorLat attended after the race.
Right after the Spanish Grand Prix, MotorLat had the chance to talk about Bottas’ reluctance to follow the instructions and give his place to Hamilton. The Briton was much faster than him, so the Silver Arrow’s strategists decided to let him pass over Bottas. The Finn replied with indifference, just like he hadn’t heard the team order and only after a few, the Finn let his teammate overcome him.
“Racers are racers - Wolff stated in the media session with a smile, explaining what happened – And racing drivers’ instincts are what they are. We would have wished that maybe, because Lewis was on a totally different strategy, he would have come through faster, a bit quicker. But at the end, we scored the result.”
Mercedes’ Team Principal has been comprehensive to his driver but he said that he would have been tougher on the Finn if such a slowness would have costed Hamilton’s victory.
That's just how we do it. 👌 #WeLivePerformancepic.twitter.com/xVf0BcBg6K
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) May 10, 2021
“I can relate to Valtteri that he had a tough day again and you’re annoyed. If it would have lost the race, I would be more critical. But at the end it’s something we can learn of. And it goes both directions, and this is what we will be discussing, but in a very camaraderie-like way," - Wolff told the media.
Hamilton, on the other hand, said that he didn’t know that his teammate received the message: “Honestly I didn’t know that he had a message so in my mind I was like ‘we’re racing’. And that’s totally fine for me, particularly early on in this part of the season so in my mind I was ‘so I’ve got to get close and hope for an overtake’. – he said - Then obviously when we went into turn 10, we were on massively different strategies so I was going to get him at some stage because I had much better tyres. And we were going into turn 10 and I thought there was a gap there and I wasn’t quite sure. Then there was a gap and Valtteri was completely fair.”
Once again, Mercedes strategies were right and gave the correct reading of the race so they could stop a great Verstappen. Now it’s time for Monaco, a race for which the qualifying means everything, so it will be interesting to watch Bottas to prove his worth or Lewis get his 101th pole position.
