Valtteri Bottas details Mercedes Lewis Hamilton decision that made things tricky for him

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Valtteri Bottas has opened up about the difficult moment when he was told by Mercedes to relinquish his lead to Lewis Hamilton at the 2018 Russian Grand Prix. Bottas, 32, has been a teammate of Hamilton since 2016, playing his part in four Constructors’ titles, but while his British teammate has taken the individual world title in each of those campaigns the Finn has failed to mount a challenge of his own.

In almost 100 races with the Silver Arrows, he’s won just 10 times, the most recent of which coming at last month’s Turkish Grand Prix.

Despite frequently being described by seven-time world champion Hamilton as the best teammate he’s ever had, Bottas will leave for Alfa Romeo next season to be replaced by George Russell.

Now, speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast, he’s spoken candidly about the race in which he truly realised he was playing second fiddle at Mercedes to the British icon.

Bottas was leading the race at the Sochi Autodrom when he was given team orders to relinquish his position to Hamilton, who at the time was fighting for the title with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

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“Yeah, it was tough,” admitted the Finnish driver.

“You know, obviously, I made a decision, I did it. Although, it was like biting my own teeth together and really didn’t feel natural and not right, because I’m a racer. But I did it for the team.

“But I also think, at that moment, I lost certain sense of… Everything just became a bit more tricky after that for the rest of the season.”

Bottas admitted that he struggled to focus for the remainder of the campaign, knowing the team were prioritising with Hamilton winning races.

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“Because I realised that, ‘OK, my role is now basically just helping’, and I couldn’t really digest that. And then I think I wasn’t in the right mindset for the rest of the year.”

Bottas finished that season fifth in the drivers’ standings, his lowest position in his time at Mercedes, but he currently lies third this time around with four Grand Prix races left in 2021.

He qualified on pole position for last week’s Mexico City Grand Prix, but was criticised in some quarters for failing to defend his line as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came from third on the grid to take a lead he never relinquished.

Things went from bad to worse when Bottas then collided with Daniel Ricciardo, and he finished a nightmare race in 15th place.

The result extended Verstappen’s championship lead over Hamilton to 19 points, and left the Constructors’s race in the balance with Mercedes just a single point clear of their Red Bull rivals.

This weekend, Sao Paulo plays host to the Brazilian Grand Prix before further races in Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The season, and Bottas’ time at Mercedes, will then culminate in Abu Dhabi in December 12.

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