Valtteri Bottas not ruling out Hamilton 'team orders'

  • Published on 10 Nov 2017 15:58
  • comments 0
  • By: Rob Veenstra

Valtteri Bottas is targeting second place behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the 2017 world championship. Sebastian Vettel was gutted in Mexico to have lost the title to Hamilton, but now it is the other Mercedes driver who is aiming to beat him in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.

"Yes, it is possible," the Finn told the C More broadcaster in Brazil. "The difference is 15 points and 50 points are still available, but it requires some good races in the next two weekends. Of course it's not the same as fighting for a championship, but second is always better than third," Bottas added. "Especially for the team, first and second is better than first and third," he said.

To that end, Bottas may expect Hamilton to fall in line as his 'number 2' in Brazil and Abu Dhabi. But Bottas said: "It depends on the situation. Lewis has his own ambition, just like any other driver, so he wants to win the races even if his championship is safe. I'm not expecting anyone to completely ruin his race for me, so as I said it all depends on the situation."

Bottas also admitted that he did not attend Hamilton's post-race championship celebrations two weeks ago in Mexico. "I was not involved," he said. "I flew home straight after the race and didn't know or hear about the party." (GMM)

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  • Team Mercedes
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