“I loved it that he speaks his mind now” – Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff feels Valtteri Bottas was right to criticise the team for pit stop strategy during the French Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas is having a torrid final season at Mercedes, with below-par performances and disagreements with the team. The Finn saw red in France when Mercedes chose to not pit him again despite his repeated requests. What followed was an expletive-ridden rant on team radio.
Why the f**k did nobody listen to me when I said it was a two-stopper? F*****g hell!
Toto Wolff reviews radio rant
Toto Wolff did not mind this, stating he is happy the Finn is speaking his mind. He went on to add that they still feel their decision was correct, something Bottas will not agree to.
“I loved it that he speaks his mind now and doesn’t internalise. We still believe the one-stop was the better strategy. But when fighting so strong after the stop, we just stressed the tyres too much to make it all the way to the end.”
Bottas not sorry
The Finn maintains he did not say something out of the way, regretting the lead extension rewarded to Red Bull. He agreed that they all thought the tyres would last longer, but it was not to be, resulting in a double podium for Red Bull.
“I was making very clear what I was thinking, and I was suggesting two stops earlier in the race. But the team decided it was going to be one-stop. So we went with the one-stop, and here we are.
“By stopping that early, we should have done a two-stopper. It was too late to react in the end. The ultimate issue was we thought the tyres were going to last a lot better than they did. I think that was the biggest thing. We thought that the hard tyre could do nearly the whole race, but obviously it was not the case.”
