Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas started on the front row in Sochi today with the Ferrari duo starting on the second row behind them.
But it wasn’t the usual Hamilton on pole situation with Bottas trying to hold up the Ferraris behind him.
Bottas had qualified in pole position yesterday, with Hamilton slotting in behind him. And there was a lot of talk around the fact that Mercedes could indeed use team orders to switch the cars perhaps towards the end of the race.
Bottas made it clear in the post qualifying press conference that he would be going for the win, as that is the only thing that should be on one’s mind when they have qualified in pole position.
Toto Wolff had made it clear that it would be difficult to impose team orders, but a meeting would be held and all the possible options would be discussed.
However, as it happened during the race, Bottas was asked to let Hamilton pass, in order to prevent him from getting into a battle with Vettel.
Mercedes let Bottas know that the move had to be carried out as Hamilton had a small blister and was under pressure from Vettel.
Check out the video:
Twitter too wasn’t quite impressed with what had just transpired.
