Wolff praises Bottas for “brilliant” British GP F1 weekend

Bottas was forced to sacrifice his own qualifying at Silverstone as he gave teammate Hamilton a tow, helping him secure top spot ahead of Max Verstappen.

Once Hamilton had served his 10-second time penalty in Sunday’s grand prix, he rejoined behind Bottas and McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Hamilton quickly got past Norris before Mercedes ordered Bottas to move out of the way, with the Finn complying quickly.

Bottas’ chances of a better result were compromised by two sluggish starts - losing out to Charles Leclerc on the first standing start and then Norris after the red flag.

Reflecting on Silverstone as a whole, Wolff lauded Bottas for his performance across the weekend.

“Yeah he had a brilliant weekend in my opinion because he could have been on pole if he would have had a tow on Friday night and that was obviously impacting his performance,” Wolff said. “If you’re on pole it’s much easier. And he was very quick today, he drove a really solid race and just Lewis coming from behind on that hard was just in another dimension to everyone else on track. 

“But Valtteri was the second quickest car out there and helped Lewis to secure the win and Valtteri’s just a great team member and great driver with the right character and personality.”

Hamilton trails Verstappen by just seven points in the championship, while Bottas sits fourth, 77 off the lead. 

With the gaps so close at the front, Wolff said that “there is no room for margin” as Hamilton goes in search of a record-breaking eighth drivers’ title.

“It is very important because statistically his odds to win the championship are very small compared to Lewis, who is very much in the fight,” Wolff added. “And we have discussed that, and as tough as it is for a driver, there is no room for margin here in this year’s championship.

“It is part of the decision, not everything. But seeing him like this is great. I enjoy the teamship.”