Wolff: Current role for Bottas a "mental setback"

Toto Wolff has admitted Valtteri Bottas has suffered a "mental setback" as Mercedes have favoured his British team-mate Lewis Hamilton during the second half of the season. Following the Japanese Grand Prix, Bottas claimed he is desperate to see Hamilton win the championship sooner rather than later.

In Sochi, Bottas seemingly handed over the race victory to Hamilton boosting his chances of winning a fifth drivers championship. As he got out of the car in Suzuka, Bottas confirmed he followed the plan to finish third. See the story here.

Now, Wolff goes back to his "wingman" comments and admits Bottas will be having a mental setback.

“I think we have to remind ourselves that for a race driver [Bottas] who is channelling all his efforts into winning races and the championship if you take that ability away from him, it will automatically cause a little bit of a mental setback," Wolff told motorsport.

"He says he hasn’t got that, but I believe that will play a little part of it. He’s a tremendous team player and we cannot re-emphasize that enough. To give you an example, after Sochi in the evening we had a discussion."

For his sake, Hamilton had better hurry up and win the title. If he does, we predict Bottas to win the final three races of the season.