Bottas: "In Lewis' place the situation would have been the same for me"
F1 News
- GPblog.com
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was again won by Lewis Hamilton, despite his teammate Valtteri Bottas leading the race in the early stages. Hamilton went for a different strategy, something that Bottas usually can't do with the Mercedes team.
In Imola, Hamilton deviated from Bottas' strategy, something Bottas has asked the team for several times in the past. However, his requests are usually not met by Mercedes. In spite of that, he denies that Hamilton gets preferential treatment.
Bottas' requests ignored by Mercedes
During the Grand Prix of Portugal, Bottas asked to change to the soft compound, unlike Hamilton, who was on the hard compound. However, this was ignored by the team, who put him on the hard tyres as planned.
It's been said that Bottas has been playing second fiddle at Mercedes. He himself denies that this is the case.
"There were different scenarios for the past races. In Imola, we discussed what we would do if Red Bull did an undercut. I had to respond to that. If I had driven Lewis' place the situation would have been the same for me. I would have wanted to stay out longer," the Finn said to various media.
He continues: "Last weekend it was in Lewis' advantage, but the situation would have been the same the other way around. In Portugal the scenario was different, but a different strategy wouldn't have helped me there either. We want to race and we do it according to the rules of the team. Those rules are fair," concludes Bottas.