Bottas could be set for Mercedes support role

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has refused to rule out the possibility of initiating team orders during Grand Prix races so that Valtteri Bottas plays a support role for Lewis Hamilton in order to aid the latter's championship bid, but said such a decision goes against his "instinct".

Hamilton's championship lead is down to 17 points following a disappointing outing at the Belgian Grand Prix in which Sebastian Vettel cruised to claim the flag.

Bottas is down in fourth in the rankings, and although not mathematically out of the championship race, it would take a herculean effort from the Finn, as well as the three drivers ahead suffering numerous disastrous races, for him to get back in contention.

It looks to be between Hamilton and Vettel who will battle for the title, so speculation is mounting that Bottas could be asked to provide a support role to his team-mate rather than going all-out for race wins himself.

Wolff has insisted this tactic has not been discussed, but refused to rule it out altogether.

“I hate to do that," Wolff said.

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“It’s completely against my racing instinct. We try to be very neutral to both drivers. We haven’t done it. We haven’t done it yet. We haven’t discussed it.

“Let’s see how Monza pans out and how it goes,” he added

“Then we will address the question as to whether we need to put all force behind one driver. But at the moment, we owe it to the two men and to Formula 1 to not interfere into the race.”

Wolff previously caused some controversy when he described Bottas as a "great wingman" for Hamilton following a race win for the Brit, with Bottas admitted the statement "hurt" him.