Bottas ran ahead of Hamilton after the seven-time champion pursued a two-stop strategy to beat Max Verstappen for victory.
The Finn took a comfortable third place in Barcelona and was instructed to switch for his teammate on lap 52 to ensure that Hamilton doesn’t waste unnecessary time in the battle against Verstappen.
Hamilton was not let through immediately and he was forced to crash Bottas at Turn 10.
Explaining why he didn’t let Hamilton through right away, Bottas said he wanted to make sure he had a pit stop over Leclerc before his second stop and lose as little time as possible.
“Yes, I got the news and obviously we had different strategies at that point,” Bottas said at the press conference after the race. “Unless something crazy happened, I wouldn’t really fight him anymore, but the thing was, at the time, I was trying to get Charles out of my pit window so I could stop and try to be in front of him again. I was really aware that I didn’t want to lose too much time and I focused on my race.
“It’s about balancing things, but as a racing driver you prioritize yourself, your race, because that’s what you do, but we also work as a team so you don’t want to ruin the race for the team if you can’t is.
On the subject of matching items
“So I’ve tried to do the best for us and the team, but also for myself, but it’s always difficult to do things like that. You don’t know if the other driver will predict what will happen and where to go. I think it was kind of okay in the end. “
Hamilton had no problems with Bottas.
“I think we are the best team-mates,” added Hamilton. “Honestly, I didn’t know he had a message so I thought we were racing and that’s perfectly fine with me, especially at the beginning of this part of the season.
“In my mind I thought, ‘OK, I have to be close and aim to overtake’. When we were at Turn 10, of course, we had completely different strategies because I would get him at some point because I had much better tires. We went into Turn 10 … I thought there was a gap, then I wasn’t exactly sure and then there was a gap and Valtteri was completely fair, I hope I didn’t lose him too much time.
On the subject of matching items
“That’s how we win as a team. We’re sometimes in the position where we have to put the team first and getting a second and a third is good, but getting a first is maximum points and that’s key. “
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