“Why did we stop then?”– Valtteri Bottas calls out Mercedes’ bizzare instructions over fastest lap

Tanish Chachra | 05/09/2021
"A beautiful car and a good car to drive" - Alfa Romeo-bound Valtteri Bottas reveals his favourite Mercedes race and car

“Why did we stop then?”– Valtteri Bottas was pitstopped in the last phase of the race to aim for the fastest lap point, but Mercedes reverses the decision.

Max Verstappen’s supremacy once again spoiled Lewis Hamilton’s ambitions to extend his lead on the championship, as the Dutchman’s victory in Zandvoort brings him back at the top of the table.

Meanwhile, Mercedes taking the sign that Red Bull has sealed the victory, instructed Valtteri Bottas to pit and aim for the fastest lap point with soft tyres.

Around that time only, with Hamilton’s medium tyres almost wore out, he also pitted to run on soft tyres, and strangely Mercedes ordered Bottas to not go for the fastest lap anymore.

In reaction, Bottas asked on the radio, “Why did we stop then?” Mercedes’ response: “Precautionary, tyre vibrations.” Though a fair argument as Bottas complained about tyre vibrations earlier.

Strange fastest lap or a rebellion?

When Bottas was told to slow down, he made the fastest mark on the first two sectors but slowed down in the third to adhere to the team orders, yet he still did the quickest lap.

Seeing the fastest lap in Bottas’ name, the Twitter had its moment with fans pouring on some brilliant reaction to the strategy chaos at Mercedes’ table.

Nevertheless, in the end, Hamilton grabbed the fastest lap to get a small relief against Verstappen, as the Dutchman has three points lead over the seven-time world champion in the 2021 standings.

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Valtteri Bottas

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

Don’t miss these