Will Mercedes order Bottas to let Hamilton past?

MERCEDES boss Toto Wolff will call Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas together this morning to discuss whether to issue team orders for the Russian Grand Prix.

Wolff left Sochi last night wrestling a dilemma after Hamilton mucked up and surrendered pole position to his Finnish team-mate.

Wolff admitted he had to decide whether to choreograph the race in favour of the Briton, who leads Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel — third fastest yesterday — by 40 points in the title race. Mercedes have been meticulous in letting their drivers race, but with six rounds to go pragmatism may win out.

‘We are not at a part of the season when I want two Mercedes racing each other at the front, much as I hate as a fan to issue orders,’ he said.

‘None of us likes it. Lewis did not want that when he was racing Nico [Rosberg], believing he could beat him fair and square. It’s tricky. We will come to a decision with the buy-in of everyone.’

Wolff, who will involve his senior engineers in the process, must determine team policy going into the second corner — the first braking point.

It is a long run into that dangerous bend, where the cars decelerate from 205mph to 90mph in the blink of an eye. Then how to play out the rest of the race? And in the pits?

Bottas, who claimed his second pole of the season on the track where he registered his first victory last season, is likely to play ball because he is out of the title picture.

‘My approach is to win the race,’ said Bottas. ‘But obviously Lewis is leading with a bit of a gap to Sebastian and a very big gap to me, so you have to keep that in mind.’

The perfect result would be a Hamilton-led one-two to extend their delicate 37-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.

Hamilton’s error at the seventh corner cost him pole. He was 0.145sec back from Bottas in the end, having been three-tenths up through the first sector. It was a rare glitch. He was still more than four-tenths quicker than Vettel.

There was an unsatisfactory feel to the afternoon because engine changes to the McLaren of Fernando Alonso, the Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo and the Toro Rossos of Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly meant they were condemned to the back and had to do a single lap only to qualify. The law is an ass.

Verstappen, 21 today, will start last of the relegated five having incurred an additional penalty for ignoring yellow flags.