Wolff “loved” Bottas’ feisty F1 radio outburst at French GP

The Finn urged his team to follow Red Bull in switching to a two-stop strategy at Paul Ricard but his request fell on deaf ears, with Mercedes opting to keep him and teammate Lewis Hamilton on a one-stopper.

Bottas ultimately ended up losing out on a podium spot in the closing stages to Sergio Perez as he angrily told his team that his tyres were “fucking finished”.

“Why the fuck does no one listen to me when I say that it's going to be a two-stopper?” Bottas added.

Rather than being annoyed at Bottas for questioning the team’s strategy, Wolff insisted that he was pleased to see his driver’s fiery side come out.

“I loved it, that he speaks his mind now and doesn’t internalise,” Wolff explained.

“We still believe the one-stop was the better strategy. But when fighting so strong after the stop, we just stretched the tyre, stressed the tyres too much to make it all the way to the end.”

With Bottas fighting in the lead battle with Max Verstappen and Hamilton until his tyre woes derailed his chances, Wolff was pleased with the progress he made at the French GP following a difficult start to the season.

“I still think that he delivered a good race to be honest, because he was right up there with Lewis and Max for large parts of the race,” Wolff said.

“I think the development goes in the right direction, to be honest. Yes, there is still a part, or a gap in tyre management. But we’ll look at it in detail over the next few days.

“But I see a real progression with how Valtteri tackles the races, and qualifying, we never doubted.”

Bottas’ improved form came off the back of intensifying speculation regarding his future and reports claiming he is poised to be replaced at Mercedes by George Russell next season.

Asked if he felt the rumours were helping motivate Bottas, Wolff replied: “No, I think Valtteri knows that the only answer to these rumours is to perform on track.”