29/07/2018
NEWS STORY
In the moments following today's Hungarian Grand Prix, when asked his feelings about the result, Toto Wolff told Sky Sports: "It feels a bit bittersweet, I don't know why, because Valtteri would have deserved a podium because he was such a sensational wingman."
However, on hearing of the comment, the Finn wasn't happy.
"First off, wingman hurts," he told TV journos in the Hungaroring paddock. "Second, I don't see any positives in this race for me. I wanted a better result.
"We thought in theory we should have been able to do that one stop," he continued. "We had to stop earlier than we wanted because of Kimi, we had to cover him, and still 20 laps before the end everything was feeling okay.
"We could control the pace and my position, but then the rear tyres started to die. I tried to defend the best I could, as aggressive as I could, but it ended up being a bit of a mess in the end with the broken front wing and everything."
Returning to the "wingman" comment, when asked if this is a role he would accept, he replied: "I think we need to speak after this race. We are over halfway through the year and the points gap is big, but for sure the team will decide at some point."
The wingman comment comes just a week after the Finn was told by team strategist James Vowles to hold station and not challenge teammate Lewis Hamilton following the safety car period which followed Sebastian Vettel's retirement at which time Bottas had pitted for new rubber.
Referring to the two late incidents which saw him drop from second to fifth, he said: "With Seb he had a good run into Turn 2, we had a bit of a battle in Turn 1. I still had my nose inside into Turn 2, he was on the outside, he turned in very early and for me there was nowhere to go. We touched and I was the only one who got damaged. Fair enough, I think racing incident.
"With Daniel, it was a similar thing," he added. "I was more next to him on the inside. I had no front half of my wing so I was locking up as well. I am sure he saw that I was going quite quick into the corner but he still turned in, and then we touched."
To add to Bottas' frustration he was subsequently given a 10s time penalty and 2 penalty points for causing a collision, though this does not impact his fifth place in the race result.
Check out our Sunday gallery from the Hungaroring, here.