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Wolff doesn't believe Bottas: "Don't think he wanted to retire"
- GPblog.com
Valtteri Bottas had to pass teammate Lewis Hamilton at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix as the British driver was in a fierce battle for the World Championship with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. The Finnish Mercedes driver could otherwise have easily grabbed the GP victory in Sochi, but a team order from Toto Wolff prevented that. Bottas had a hard time with it.
In the documentary Drive to Survive Bottas hinted that he wanted to stop working for Mercedes because of the call. It's not easy to hand over a seemingly certain victory to your team mate. Your first competitor in Formula 1 is your teammate, you want to beat him and giving away a gift like that is something no driver in the pinnacle of motorsport likes to do.
Wolff doubts about Bottas' statement
It was pretty deep for Bottas, although team boss Wolff doesn't know if the words in Netflix's hit series are entirely true. At Motorsport.com the Austrian looked back on the incident. In doing so, Wolff, almost three years later, still believes it was the logical and right choice.
"It was a disastrous situation for all of us. I think the team order was necessary because there was quite a lot at stake. Valtteri was holding up the drivers behind him with Lewis squeezed in between. He was obviously very disappointed, I understand that . But I don't think he wanted to retire. He is too much of a sportsman for that," Wolff concluded.