Speaking in the moments following the Hungarian Grand Prix, paying tribute to Valtteri Bottas, who had fought a long, late duel with Sebastian Vettel which allowed teammate Lewis Hamilton to build a comfortable lead, team boss Toto Wolff described the Finn's performance as that of a "sensational wingman".

The term was helpfully passed on to the Finn by a helpful Sky Sports presenter, and it's fair to say the driver wasn't happy.

"First of all, wingman hurts," said the Finn. "Secondly, I don't see any positives in this race for me.

"I wanted a better result, we should have been able to do one stop," he continued, "but we had to stop earlier than we wanted because of Kimi, we had to cover him. And twenty laps before the end, I was feeling OK, we could control the pace and position, but then the rear tyres started to die.

"I tried to defend the best I could, as aggressive as I could, but it ended up being a bit of a mess in the end with a broken front wing and everything.

Asked if "wingman is what you have to accept, driving for Mercedes", he replied: "I think we need to speak after this race, we are over halfway of the year and the points gap is big, so for sure the team will decide at some point."

His day made even worse by a subsequent time penalty for his clash with Daniel Ricciardo, Bottas later took to Twitter to clarify his post-race comments.

"Some out of context news around..." he tweeted. "I have not called a meeting with the bosses for Toto saying I was the perfect wingman in this race. There is no need to. I was disappointed with my end result in the race and saw everything in a negative way for a moment. I know what he ment (sic).

"And he would have said the same about Lewis if he’d be in same situation and had a similar race. We are on equal terms and I trust the team 100% on that. All good. We’ll keep pushing! It’ll come."

Meanwhile, Wolff also sought to clarify his comment.

"That's exactly why things that are not being discussed directly face-to-face are being completely spun out of control in the wrong way," said the Austrian. "In today's race, starting P2, after lap one, Valtteri's race was the perfect wingman race, and I don't mean it in championship terms, because we have no number one, we have no number two, but it was just how he was racing.

"It was, from my standpoint, the best race so far with Mercedes in the last three years," he added.

"I don't know how much length the tyre was on but I guess it was around 50 – 54 laps," he said of Bottas following his early stop in reaction to Kimi Raikkonen's early stop, "the tyre was completely shot. We were surprised he managed to hold Sebastian and Kimi behind for 25 or so laps and we knew the last five laps would be really critical.

"The bittersweet feeling I have is that he would have deserved to finish P2, where he has started and where he was after lap one.

"But, are you saying maybe the word 'wing man' doesn't do him justice? He just drove a sensational race and helped Lewis, in a way, to build the lead."

Nonetheless, the "wingman" comment comes just a week after Bottas was firmly told by strategist James Vowles to "hold station" behind Hamilton in Germany, even though the Finn was quicker and on fresher rubber.

Check out our Sunday gallery from the Hungaroring, here.

LATEST NEWS

more news >

LATEST IMAGES

galleries >

Click to go to the main galleries section

READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by Superbird70, 31/07/2018 0:00

"A little off topic here.

In honour of the 30th anniversary of a movie of questionable merit;
Hammer: "You can be my wingman any time."

Bottas: "Bull----! You can be mine. Well, maybe next year."
"

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

2. Posted by Pavlo, 30/07/2018 22:41

"To everyone who thinks Vettel is guilty - to some degree he is, he could have left more space. But one may risk to expect another driver on old tires to give up, the overtaking clearly succeeded.
While some can say that without these mistakes he probably(!) would have been in front of Lewis, I would say that without that risk he would definitely(!) be way behind."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

3. Posted by *TestaRossa*, 30/07/2018 11:56

"Vettel is dangerous on the track these last years. Fia should ban the guy.
Kimi is and stays the last Ferrari champion and should get more respect from Arrivabene."

Rating: Negative (-1) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

4. Posted by Spindoctor, 30/07/2018 10:25

"@thedodger
I actually think there might be an issue with Vettel's eyesight. I can't quote chapter & verse, but I'm pretty sure he's made several similar misjudgments this season. His depth-perception seems flawed, or conversely he's just a bit too aggressive. Either way he needs to take more care."

Rating: Neutral (0) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

5. Posted by the dodger, 30/07/2018 10:15

"yet again the FIA have lived up to the reputation ( Ferrari international Assistance) a german ferrari driver gets away .as did MS, should be the same for everyone."

Rating: Negative (-2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

6. Posted by Fambank, 30/07/2018 9:10

"No, of course you don't have a number one and a number two.
You have a driver who is relentless and never giving in, has 4 WDC and is on course for a fifth.

And then there is the other driver.

Same goes for Ferrari. This BS of not having a #1 and #2 has gotten completely out of hand.

Of course they have them, but in this age of policor we dare not put one person in front of the other."

Rating: Positive (2) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

7. Posted by Karim, 30/07/2018 8:22

"" ... we have no number one, we have no number two "
It's rather : We have Hamilton and we have Bottas.

" hold station "
"

Rating: Positive (5) Rate comment: Positive | NegativeReport this comment

Bottas and Wolff clarify "wingman" comments

LATEST NEWS

RELATED ARTICLES

LATEST IMAGES

POST A COMMENT

Post your comment

READERS COMMENTS

Share this page