OCTOBER 8, 2018

Bottas coping well with end of 2018 season says Wolff

Valtteri Bottas is coping well with a difficult end to his 2018 campaign.

Valtteri Bottas is coping well with a difficult end to his 2018 campaign.

That is the news from Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, after the Sochi-Suzuka double header in which Finn Bottas was clearly playing the 'number 2' role in support of runaway championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

Some have suggested Mercedes may try to 'pay back' Bottas for his support in the closing stages of the calendar.

When asked if that is a plan, Wolff said: "No.

"Valtteri is a great guy," he said in Japan.

"After the race at Sochi, he said 'There is no need to discuss anything and if I was you, I would do the same'.

"He said 'I understand that I need to perform better from the very beginning of the season in order to really go for the title, and I did not'," Wolff added.

(GMM)