Big bad Wolff bares teeth
MERCEDES boss Toto Wolff defended his use of team orders yesterday to help Lewis Hamilton win the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi and said he would rather people thought he was unsporting than stupid.
The victory, with Valtteri Bottas taking second after being told to move aside for his team-mate at the halfway point, allowed Hamilton to stretch his championship lead over Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel to 50 points with five races left.
There is now every chance of Hamilton wrapping up his fifth title with a race or two to spare.
“Somebody needs to be the baddie sometimes and it’s me today,” said Wolff.
“You need to weigh it up: to be the baddie on Sunday evening, for many right reasons, or be the idiot in Abu Dhabi at the end of the season.
“I’d rather be the baddie today and not the idiot at the end of the year.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was leading but had yet to pit, with Bottas second and Hamilton third with a blistered rear tyre after overtaking Vettel.
Mercedes were concerned that Hamilton could be vulnerable to the Ferrari, and might even have to pit again if the tyre got any worse – as had been the case in Belgium.
Wolff said that was the rationale behind the order, with Bottas, not a title contender, placed to defend the champion from the risk of being caught and losing points.
The Austrian did recognise, however, that some might consider it an unsporting gesture to have deprived Bottas of his first win of the season after he had secured pole position.
“Rationally, it was the right call to do,” Wolff said.
“But our sporting heart says no. At the end, if five points or three points are missing, then you are the biggest idiot on the planet by prioritising Valtteri’s single race result over the championship.”
The question of ‘team orders’, once banned in Formula One but now legal, was discussed before the race with multiple possible scenarios.
Hamilton invited Bottas to join him on the top step of the podium but the Finn stared vacantly into the distance as the national anthems were played, and the mood had eased little by the time both Mercedes drivers appeared alongside third-placed Vettel for the post-race press conference.
Hamilton said: “It doesn’t feel great. I definitely don’t think [it has happened before] in my career that I have finished first and feel the way that I do right now.
“Only time will tell if it was necessary, but if we were to lose the championship by one point, would you look back at this race and think we should have worked as a team? We are a team, and the team want to win both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, so that is why the bosses took the decision.
“Valtteri did a fantastic job all weekend and he was a real gentleman to let me by.
“It has been a great weekend for the team.
“Championship-wise trying to win championships.
“It doesn’t feel spectacular, but I know he is going to do a great job in the races to come.”
They will not have to wait long with the next stop at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan next Sunday. we are both Not Classified: