Valtteri Bottas is adamant he is still “allowed to win races” but reaffirmed his willingness to aid team-mate Lewis Hamilton’s title bid as the fight with Sebastian Vettel enters the final stretch.
The Finn is 51 points adrift of the in-form Hamilton in the standings with just six races remaining and with the competition from Ferrari so intense, Mercedes is set to back the Briton and impose a temporary driver hierarchy.
Motorsport boss Toto Wolff insists that action has not been taken yet, however and Bottas does not expect to be asked to let his teammate past if he is leading a race.
“Well, the first priority for the team is to win the Constructors’ title,” he told the official F1 website. “There it looks good – even if it is not the done deal that people think it is. We still have to do a good job to achieve it.
“Goal number two for the team is to win the Drivers’ Championship, Lewis has clearly the upper hand compared to me so I understand that there could be situations where the team needs help, and then I would accept it. That is the name of the game.
“I know the ambitions of the team – but it is not like I am going into this weekend thinking that I will go out on the track helping Lewis. I want to win – very clearly. I am still allowed to win races if I have the pace.”
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Hamilton himself hopes there isn’t a situation where further team orders are required to help him in the title by continuing the pace that has seen him claim four of the last five Grand Prix wins.
“Valtteri will make his own decisions at whatever point, if he ever feels that he’s out of contention for example,” he said. “My goal is to make sure that we’re not in the position for them to have to do that [team orders].
“My goal is to make sure I do the better job each weekend, which is not always the case, and Valtteri’s getting stronger with understanding the car.”
While he still has a mathematical chance of a first world championship in his first year since joining Mercedes from Williams, Bottas, who was confirmed for 2018 in Singapore, will refuse to throw in the towel.
“I know the plain facts and that means we still have six races to go and proper points still in the pot,” he said. “So I will not give up on the title unless all theoretical chances are over. Let’s see what happens!”
