Toto Wolff revealed his motivational message to Valtteri Bottas in Q3 came as a request from the Finn to "talk a little bit more".
Just before starting the lap that would secure him second on the grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a rare radio call from the Mercedes boss was broadcast, urging Bottas to give "all you have".
And asked about the message, Valtteri himself played it down, though did admit it was part of a different approach.
“He can always talk to us if he wants but in the last days, we had a chat about different things," Bottas revealed.
“We’re a team, we support each other, as we feel like. If you can support another person in the team with encouragement or certain words you do it and I’d do the same for any team member.
“Nothing more than that, I think it’s more of a personal thing.”
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Bottas has come under pressure this year after an underwhelming season on the track, including being facing the likelihood of beating beaten by George Russell last weekend in Bahrain, as the Briton replaced the Covid-positive Lewis Hamilton.
But Wolff has continually backed his driver and is more than happy to encourage if requested.
“It’s always tricky when you talk to the drivers before qualifying and the race but it’s something we discussed and he said ‘I need a little feedback from you, it’s always good’,” he told Sky Sports
“It’s difficult because I’ve never talked to the drivers because I felt from my experience that it’s a bit distracting. Everyone is different and with him, we had a good talk.
“When the championship is lost, it’s obviously difficult to cope with that. That’s why he said ‘let’s talk a little bit more’.”
Whether it made a difference is hard to tell as Bottas pipped Hamilton by just 0.061s.
But it still wasn't enough to beat Max Verstappen, who claimed pole by just 0.025s in the Red Bull.
“I think here it’s extremely difficult to get the perfect lap, but that’s ultimately always the target,” Bottas explained.
“You can always find a couple of hundreds here and there. Obviously, yes, I could have done a better job, it wasn’t too bad. I think the main issue, as the session was going on, I felt it was getting more difficult and in Q3 I was surprised how little, in fact, we could extract lap time with better track and everything.
“So, maybe struggled a bit with the front end of the car towards the end of qualifying, as the track temperatures dropped. I think, ultimately, today especially, Red Bull being very quick on the Soft tyre and we kind of lacked a bit with the getting more from the Soft, compared to the Medium.
“So, we need to learn for the future but, anyway, the race it’s tomorrow, it’s going to be close, I think, at least between us three.”
