Bottas exonerates Mercedes over Hamilton strategy call

Valtteri Bottas has insisted Mercedes' decision to allow Lewis Hamilton to change strategy at Imola was "completely fair" despite the team twice denying him similar opportunities this season.

During Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Hamilton told race engineer Pete Bonnington he would be continuing on the medium tyre after Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Bottas had just switched to the hard compound.

A week previously in Portugal, Bottas had asked for an offsetting compound in a bid to catch Hamilton, as was also the case during the Russian GP. On both occasions, he was denied.

Bottas, though, has exonerated Mercedes of any wrongdoing. He said: "It was two different scenarios, I would say.

"We went through the plans in the morning, what happens if one of us gets under pressure and there’s a possibility that Red Bull could undercut and that was me.

"So obviously I had to react and it would have been the same case if I was in Lewis’ position, that the only thing I wanted to do is to go long and seek the opportunities.

"It really paid off for Lewis, and if we were the other way round it would have been the same for me."

Insistent Mercedes provides equal opportunities to both drivers, Bottas added: "The racing intent is good and is working.

"We are following the rules and it’s completely fair. It’s one of the things that allows us as a team to actually do the things that we’re doing."

Bottas led the early stages of the race but picked up a significant piece of debris from Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari on lap one which severely affected his pace.

Recognising that handicap in contrast to Hamilton's performance, Bottas said: "Obviously, Lewis had the pace advantage, I think partly because of the debris I had.

"We were pretty strong but two completely different scenarios, and actually, in Portimão, even though I asked for the soft I couldn’t achieve the target lap anyway, to get the soft to last until the end."

Before you go...

Ferrari set double end-of-season target

Red Bull "complexities" mean no guarantee of success with new driver - Horner

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

Aston Martin hit with brutal 45-place grid penalty at F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

• 26 minutes ago

Christian Horner F1 return in jeopardy with 'at least seven' rivals in play

• 1 hour ago

F1 Qualifying Today: Azerbaijan Grand Prix schedule, times and TV channel

• 1 hour ago

F1 News Today: FIA investigate 'f***ing dangerous' Hamilton as Briatore responds to Ferrari link

• 2 hours ago

F1 on TV: How US fans watch the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend live and FREE

• Today 00:27

Lewis Hamilton reposts bizarre AI video of rapping car ride with Max Verstappen and co

• Yesterday 22:30