F1 News
Wolff hints at team order during sprint again: 'Presumably'
- GPblog.com
With a front row start on the grid as well as a substantial advantage in top speed, it looks like it will be sunshine and roses for Mercedes at Monza. Yet the team will be faced with a difficult decision on Saturday; will they allow Valtteri Bottas to surrender his deserved pole position during the sprint race, in order to maximise Lewis Hamilton's points haul? Wolff is seriously considering it.
"It's difficult, generally", Wolff argues to Sky Sports. "When you have to call team orders because all of us as racers, we don't want to see that," Still, it won't be the first time Mercedes has sacrificed Bottas' results in service of his British teammate.
"But, in this case, Valtteri is going all the way to the back on Sunday", the team boss nuanced. "We need to see how the start pans out. There's not too much to discuss [beforehand]. Just be careful in the first corner, and then we'll see where they are."
In this case, yes
However, the team boss does acknowledge that, if Verstappen is placed at a substantial disadvantage and Valtteri Bottas remains at the front during the sprint under his own power, a strategic decision, or the dreaded team order, will most likely have to be made. Asked about this scenario Wolff says: "Yeah presumably."