The Mercedes team orders during the Russian Grand Prix dominated the headlines as Bottas who had qualified in pole position was asked to let Hamilton by, as Vettel was breathing down the Brit’s neck.
Post the race, the entire Mercedes team seemed a little apologetic about the entire incident, but conceded that the team orders needed to be imposed in order to help Hamilton cruise to a victory and get a significant 50 point lead over his nearest rival Sebastian Vettel.
During the Russian Grand Prix, towards the end when Hamilton had no real threat from Vettel and thus Bottas enquired if they would be swapping positions.
Toto Wolff then intervened and communicated to Bottas that the position wouldn’t be swapped and Hamilton would be allowed to win the race.
He had assured Bottas that the team would sit down and speak about the entire thing after the race.
Now, Toto Wolff has confirmed that if Mercedes decide to impose team orders in the remaining 4 races, he wouldn’t be the one calling the shots.
James Vowles will be calling the shots with respect to team orders in the next few races, as confirmed by Wolff.
“So when our plane flies in qualifying and in the race, James flies the airplane and all I can do is comment and give him feedback and input but ultimately it’s his decision what to do.” Wolff said.
“He’s in command at that moment even though from my ranking I’m higher up. But I will not interfere. It is his call in the end.
“There is the race support room back in Brackley that is engaged, and we have all the clever guys there.
“So I’m having my special button with James Allison where we’re offloading all the crap and vice versa, just not to offload it onto the guys that are actually flying the plane.
“Unless I am 100% convinced that he’s not spotted something, which is when I will give him the input, I will not interfere with the final decision.” he added.
