For the first time since 2016, Mercedes witnessed one of their drivers disregarding team orders at the Dutch Grand Prix. It was Valtteri Bottas! The race at Zandvoort had a lot of drama to offer from the Mercedes pit wall, and the battle was for the single fastest lap point.

With just over 5 laps to go, the Brackley outfit pitted Bottas for a set of soft tires and it looked the team wanted the P3-runner to secure the fastest lap point.

However, Bottas instead received a bizarre order from the team, demanding him against pushing for the fastest lap. And consequently, Bottas wondered the same as most of the viewers. He questioned the team why he was dragged to the pits if they didn’t want him to push for the fastest lap.

What did Valtteri Bottas do?

Well, the Finn remained unshaken by the team orders and went on to set purple lap times around sector 1 and sector 2. Soon, James Vowles arrived on Bottas’ radio demanding him to abort the attempt for the fastest lap. Despite such demands, Bottas went on to set the fastest lap time.

Hence, Mercedes had to bring Hamilton into the pits on the very next lap. Luckily for Hamilton, there were 2 laps in hand, and the Briton used the initial lap to warm his tires up to optimum temperature and attempt the fastest lap on the very last lap of the race.

And he did manage to secure the crucial point amidst the ongoing title rivalry against Max Verstappen.

The entire F1 fandom had various reactions to this bizarre team order from Mercedes. Unsurprisingly, most of them opposed the Brackley outfit using Bottas as a second fiddle to the championship contender.

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Twitter reactions to the Mercedes squabble

How will Mercedes react to Bottas’ breach of team orders?

Bottas is undeniably a Mercedes driver. But the team’s reaction depends on where the Finn ends up by the start of the next season.

If he is set to bow out of Mercedes, he pretty much has nothing to lose anymore. Hence, assuming that’s the case, the Brackley are certainly in a rather complicated position.

Of course, there is no denying that Toto Wolff will have a talk with Bottas over the matter. But the biggest question is, will Bottas stop with the Dutch Grand Prix or will he continue to attempt more such violations of team orders in the future?

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