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Wolff about Bottas: "That wasn't why he couldn't catch up with Verstappen."
Lewis Hamilton has received compliments from Toto Wolff. The team boss of Mercedes praises Hamilton's decision to go for mediums and not for the softs in the last stint. According to Wolff the softs have in fact killed a possible second place for Bottas.
"He's driving at an unprecedented high level. He has everything under control", Wolff starts his praise at Sky Sports. Hamilton was also busy with the Grands Prix on Sunday afternoon. "He's saving the engine for the weekends when things get tougher."
That Hamilton really is a leader is shown by the fact that he convinced his team to go for the mediums in the last stint. "We still had the opportunity to put softs under his car, that made sense," says the Austrian. Where Hamilton went for the yellow compound, Bottas got the softs. "That messed up Valtteri's race. On the mediums, he could have caught up with Max. At least he could have fought him."
Bottas didn't lose P2 at the start
Wolff praises Hamilton's 'racing instinct'. "He just wanted mediums, not the softs." Finally, the team chief goes into Bottas' race briefly. "He lost some time at the start, but that wasn't the reason he couldn't catch up with Verstappen. The softs didn't work as expected."