Wolff counters Bottas' "defensive" strategy complaint
Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff understands Valtteri Bottas' frustration of being stuck on the same strategy as teammate Lewis Hamilton in the Bahrain Grand Prix but said there was no other option on the table.
Bottas finished a distant third behind winner Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen, opting to take a third pitstop near the end of the race to claim the point for the fastest lap.
But any chance for Bottas to win the opening round of the 2021 F1 season was lost after he was passed for third by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc at the start.
By the time Bottas had reclaimed the position, his gap to the leaders made Mercedes decide that following Hamilton's strategy of trying to undercut Verstappen was the best option. A slow second pitstop due to wheel gun issues further compromised that effort and all but guaranteed third place for Bottas.
After the race, Bottas said he was disappointed and surprised that his team put him on a "defensive" strategy.
"Disappointing for sure," he said. "Good for the team as we got good points, but from my side strategy-wise we went on the defensive side instead of attacking, which I'm quite surprised by and it's not quite normal.
"Then I had a slow pitstop and that took away any opportunities.
"For sure we managed to have the two cars [up front] and that way we could play with the strategy but I still think from my side there was more to get today."
When asked by Motorsport.com if there was an alternative strategy Mercedes could have chosen, Wolff explained there was no other option on the table, pointing out that Bottas compromised his own chances by being passed by Leclerc at the start.
"I think there wasn't any strategy on the table," Wolff said when asked about Bottas' comments. "Because we tried to undercut also with Valtteri that I think would change race for him.
"The outcome we didn't wish for was that he lost a position at the start of the race and he kind of couldn't recover the gap to the two guys in front. The pitstop was there to undercut Max and I think we would probably have been successful, but we had a problem with the right front wheel gun."
Wolff understood his driver's frustration as Bottas didn't have all the information available to him in the cockpit.
He said: "I totally understand the frustration in the car when you have limited information and say: 'I think we could have done something else.'
"I don't know what other strategy we could have run. The one stop was clearly not possible, the medium wouldn't have made it to the end, the hard in the middle stage was running out of performance.
"There was no other option available."
Related video
McLaren reveals Ricciardo had floor damage from Gasly clash
Verstappen "would smash" Hamilton at Mercedes, says Piquet
The underdog F1 squad that thrust Senna into the limelight
The Toleman TG184 was the car that could, according to legend, have given Ayrton Senna his first F1 win but for Alain Prost and Jacky Ickx at Monaco in 1984. That could be stretching the boundaries of the truth a little, but as STUART CODLING explains, the team's greatest legacy was in giving the Brazilian prodigy passed over by bigger outfits an opportunity
Why Aston Martin is unlikely to repeat Jaguar’s F1 mistakes
Two famous manufacturer teams born out of humble midfield origins, splashing the cash while attempting to rise to the top of F1 in record time. There are clear parallels between Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin and the doomed Jaguar Racing project of 22 years ago, but Mark Gallagher believes struggling Aston can avoid a similar fate.
How rejuvenated Haas recovered its F1 mojo
US-owned but until recently Russian-backed, Haas seems to have reached a turning point in car performance after three gruesome seasons. And it needs to if it’s to attract fresh investment. Team boss Gunther Steiner tells Oleg Karpov how close Haas came to the abyss.
How F1 race leaders have now lost their comfort blanket
As Formula 1 teams have settled down in understanding the new generation of cars and the way they need to maximise their performance, fresh lessons have emerged. Jonathan Noble investigates how they have brought with them an all-new kind of grand prix racing
Gilles Villeneuve's 10 greatest F1 drives
Formula 1 lost one of its brightest stars when Gilles Villeneuve was killed during practice for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Forty years on, Motorsport.com picks out the greatest drives by a Ferrari legend
The silver lining of Ferrari’s Miami GP defeat
OPINION: Much was made of Formula 1’s first Miami Grand Prix – what turned out to be a very ‘marmite’ event for both those in attendance and everyone following on TV. But even as the on-track battle between Red Bull and Ferrari it produced continued the negative run of results for the red team, it contained a glimmer it must hope continues to shine
How imperfect Miami offered F1's drivers a unique challenge
OPINION: Despite all of the stylistic embellishments festooning Formula 1's inaugural Miami Grand Prix, the Miami International Autodrome offered the drivers a unique challenge and punished driver errors; a stark contrast to the usual cast of modern-day circuits
Why F1’s turbulent relationship with Russia is nothing new
Russia’s involvement in Formula 1 has been big on promise but short on delivery – then reached the end of the road prematurely. MARK GALLAGHER investigates why