Valtteri Bottas has given clarification on comments made after the race by Toto Wolff, which inferred he was the team’s number two driver.
Bottas retained his second place after everyone had pitted by virtue of a slow pitstop by Ferrari for Sebastian Vettel saw him come out of the pitlane behind the Finn. On newer ultrasoft tyres, Vettel was stuck behind the Mercedes, allowing Hamilton to build a 20-second advantage.
Wolff claimed Bottas was a ‘sensational wingman’, only for the Finn to say it ‘hurts’ after the race.
The Finn later tweeted a clarification saying, “I have not called a meeting with the bosses for Toto saying I was the perfect wingman in this race. There is no need to.
“I was disappointed with my end result in the race and saw everything in a negative way for a moment. I know what he meant.
“And he would have said the same about Lewis if he’d be in the same situation and had a similar race.
“We are on equal terms and I trust the team 100 per cent on that. All good. We’ll keep pushing! It’ll come.”
Wolff also gave his own clarification on what he meant as a ‘wingman’, “In today’s race, starting P2 after lap one, Valtteri’s race was the perfect wingman’s race.
“I don’t mean it in championship terms, we have no number one and number two, but it was just how he was racing, was from my standpoint the best race so far with Valtteri at Mercedes in the last three years.”
