One week ago, at the Portuguese Grand Prix, fans witnessed a sight that raised a lot of eyebrows, with respect to Mercedes tire strategy for Valtteri Bottas.

The Finn, who was behind Lewis Hamilton, was heard on the radio demanding the soft compound tires. However, when he pitted, he was given the hard compounds to drive on instead.

Intriguingly, the strategy for Hamilton was different. He was allowed to stay out a lot longer on the mediums, on his first stint.

When asked for his thoughts on the matter, Bottas said, “It was two different scenarios, I would say. We went through the plans this morning.

“What if one of us gets under pressure and there’s the possibility that Red Bull could undercut and that was me today. So I had to react.”

The Mercedes driver claims that the team would have made the same call for him if he were the one leading the race.

“It would have been the same case if I was in Lewis’s position. The only thing I (would have) wanted to do is to go long and seek the opportunities. If we were the other way round, it would have been the same for me,” said Bottas.

What did Valtteri Bottas have to say about Mercedes’s racing intent?

Bottas doesn’t sense any ill intent behind the team’s racing intent, considering that F1 is a team sport at the end of the day. After all, these are the type of decisions that help teams win titles.

He said, “The racing intent is good and is working. We are following the rules and it’s completely fair. It’s one of the thing that allows us as a team to actually do the things that we’re doing.”

In a team sport, all’s well that ends well. Mercedes couldn’t really have asked for a better weekend in Italy. However, from Bottas’ point of view, it looks as though his title hopes are well and truly over as Lewis only needs 18 points to seal his 7th Drivers’ title.

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With barely 4 races to go, Bottas can’t do much better than race for pride. If he can end the season with a couple of wins, he could give himself a shot in the arm heading into 2021.