Wolff labels Bottas' fastest lap attempt "cheeky"
F1 News
Valtteri Bottas created a moment of tension in the Mercedes garage during the closing stages of the Dutch Grand Prix. A moment which Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff labels as "cheeky". Regardless of this moment, it seems as if Bottas is on his way out of Mercedes garage for the 2022 season, as George Russell looks to take his seat alongside Lewis Hamilton.
Fastest lap
Hamilton held the fastest lap point, but Mercedes pitted Bottas for a change of tyres in the closing stages of the race. On this set, the Finnish driver started to push and set two purple sector times. This led to a bit of a frenzy on his team radio reminding him that Hamilton needed the point for the fastest lap in his battle for the title against Max Verstappen.
Wolff called this move a bit "cheeky" but the Austrian claims he understands.
"That was a bit cheeky, but understandable. Valtteri is always on the receiving end because this championship is so tight. He lifted off massively in the last sector, and it was clear that Lewis would do the quickest lap and Valtteri knew about it. At the end, Lewis in his fight for the drivers' championship got the point, and it's all good," Wolff is quoted by motorsport.com.
An extra pit stop
In the end, Hamilton beat the fastest lap time by 1.5 seconds, showing how comfortable it was. However, it forced Mercedes to risk an extra pit stop where we've seen things go wrong before.
"It could have ended up in a loss of a point for Lewis, and it would have also been not right, because he had fastest lap until then. But you have to understand also at that point, there's a certain degree of frustration of Valtteri, and at the end, everything is good. We're going to talk about it, but in a most amicable and professional way," Wolff added.