Lewis Hamilton romped to a authoritative win in Hungary last night, brushing aside the Ferrari challenge and going into the summer break with a comfortable 24 point lead.
However, the win wouldn’t have been as comfortable if not for the amazing defensive drive from Bottas, one which kept the Ferrari cars at bay and helped Lewis open up the gap with clean air in front of him.
Bottas though couldn’t hang onto his second spot, as his tyres ultimately gave up on him and he collided with both Vettel and Ricciardo.
His wounded car with worn tyres could manage to just P5, but in the larger scheme of things, his drive was very crucial in keeping Ferrari away from the win at Hungary.
However, all of the post race shenanigans for Mercedes were marred by Toto’s comments on Bottas, and him referring to the Finn as the perfect wingman.
Bottas in reply admitted that he was hurt by the comments but later came up with a twitter post explaining the entire situation and that all was well in the Mercedes camp.
Lewis Hamilton came up with an Instagram post, thanking his teammate for the incredible drive and for keeping Ferrari at bay.
“Finally sat down and I would like to give praise and thanks to Valtteri Bottas. Without his great drive the team may not have won today, would have been very tight at the end.” Hamilton said.
“But thanks to his fight, he helped us come away with 3 more points as a team than Ferrari. Don’t forget, the priority for the team is to win the race and the team championship.
“So, today he played a key role. As for me, he helped me in being supportive as a teammate which I want to acknowledge. Huge respect between us.” he added.
Now, while there is clear appreciation for Bottas in the post, there is also this air of ‘supportive’ and ‘no.2’ driver around it.
While for the fans it is pretty clear as to who the no.1 Mercedes driver is, it would be interesting to see if Mercedes actually go out and tell that to Bottas, now that the ‘wingman’ statement is already out in the universe(although Wolff has given clarification).
Do you think Hamilton’s comments in any way suggest that Bottas is going to be his ‘wingman’ for the rest of the season? Or is it just a plain appreciation post and maybe we are reading too much into it.
