06/08/2019
NEWS STORY
Having said that a decision will be made over the summer break as to whether Valtteri Bottas will be retained for 2020 or Esteban Ocon brought in from the cold, Toto Wolff's task appeared to be made that little bit easier when a nightmare opening few corners in Hungary totally compromised the Finn's race.
While Hamilton took a remarkable victory, Bottas finished a lap down in eighth.
With Bottas opting not to take part in the celebratory team photo at race end, Wolff admitted feeling sad for the Finn.
"That's why you don't see me jumping up and down for joy because it's so sad for him," the Austrian told reporters. "He was so pumped yesterday after his qualifying, his performance was brilliant and he was in the right space of mind before the race.
"But the unfortunate incident of flat-spotting of the tyres, touching with Lewis, touching with Leclerc, within a lap all the hard work is gone. And that's just awful for him. I'm sorry for him."
Aware that that it is unlikely to be his name that follows the customary 'Announce' tweet in the coming weeks, Bottas insists there is an alternative.
"When you are in this situation, as with everything in Formula 1, you need to have a Plan B and, sometimes, even a Plan C," said the Finn. "When you're talking about stuff it's always good to have different plans and that's what I'm doing.
"I'm not really nervous," he insisted, "but for sure it would be nice to hear some news from the team, to know what they want to do, as well."
Referring to his Hungaroring horror, he said: "That's the thing in this sport, you try to be on the limit, calculating the risks, just enough. Pushing hard, trying to take the opportunities but trying not to f*** up. That's how it goes.
"For sure when contract-wise you're on the limit, it never helps," he added. "Some people might think some drivers perform better under pressure when things are on the limit but, for sure, for me it doesn't help.
"I can't say that going into Turn 1 I was thinking about it, I don't think so, but I was very hungry for the win, no matter if there are contract talks or not. I wanted to win this race, so I took the risk. It just didn't go quite as planned, it could have been a lot different, we're talking about centimetres here and there, but that's how it goes."