{"id":5420,"date":"2018-07-23T19:13:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-23T23:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=5420"},"modified":"2018-07-23T19:13:54","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T23:13:54","slug":"toto-wolff-mercedes-wanted-to-preserve-a-lucky-1-2-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2018\/07\/23\/toto-wolff-mercedes-wanted-to-preserve-a-lucky-1-2-finish\/","title":{"rendered":"Toto Wolff: Mercedes Wanted To Preserve A “Lucky” 1-2 Finish"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Lewis Hamilton<\/strong> and Valtteri Bottas<\/strong> fought closely for the lead in the German Grand Prix<\/strong><\/a>, Mercedes<\/strong> intervened\u00a0and told Bottas to hold his position. Toto Wolff<\/strong>, Mercedes’ team boss, talked about the team orders in the race and said that the team wanted to maintain the “lucky” 1-2 finish.<\/p>\n

Toto Wolff: Mercedes Wanted To Preserve A “Lucky” 1-2 Finish<\/h1>\n
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LAP 58\/67<\/p>\n

What a restart from Bottas!<\/p>\n

The Finn is all over the back of his Mercedes teammate ?#GermanGP<\/a> ?? #F1<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/5CjQ33UpZe<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Formula 1 (@F1) July 22, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mercedes’ strategy chief, James Vowles<\/strong>, was the person who talked to Bottas on the radio. Wolff defended Mercedes’ call. It was different from Ferrari’s decision to make Kimi Raikkonen<\/strong> let Sebastian Vettel<\/strong> go through and grab the lead.<\/p>\n

“First of all we didn’t have the quickest car here, and we need to progress for the next races because that is the most important.\u00a0It was still raining at the time.\u00a0 The fight was so intense. There was all to lose with the bad luck that we had in the last races, and we wanted to keep it calm at that stage,”<\/em> Wolff said.<\/p>\n

Bottas said he understood the decision. “We had a bit of a battle on lap one after the safety car with Lewis,”<\/em> he said. “I didn’t get past, and they told me to minimize the risk, which I understand.”<\/em><\/p>\n

MAIN PHOTO:<\/strong>
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>