Hamilton to return Russia favour to Bottas

Lewis Hamilton has confessed that he would be willing to return the favour given to him by Valtteri Bottas at the Russian Grand Prix which saw the Finn abandon his leading position in favour of his team-mate, who is fighting for the title.

With Bottas leading the pack and Hamilton in behind in second, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff initiated team orders for his drivers to swap positions due to the threat being posed by Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

Hamilton went on to claim the victory but was apologetic to Bottas, who took one for the team at his own expense to finish second.

Following the race, the championship leader was asked whether he would be willing to let Bottas win a future race as payback if the title had already been secured, and he responded affirmatively.

"I have no problems with that," Hamilton said.

"I don’t think he needs to do that. I think he has the possibility of winning many more races himself. At the end of last year I think he won quite a few. I don’t know."

However, Bottas, who was sitting next to Hamilton when the question was posed, insisted he would rather be competitive and win the race rather than it being handed to him, saying "No, I think it’s more fun if we race for it."

The win for Hamilton allowed him to extend his lead over Vettel in the championship rankings to 50 points with five races remaining on the Formula One calendar.

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