No favoritism at Mercedes, assures Hamilton

Back on the land of one of the most blatant stable orders of recent years, Lewis Hamilton insists that he does not want to relive the scenario of last year in Sochi, where his teammate Valtteri Bottas had ostensibly stepped aside to let him win. 

12 months later, one might think a repeat impossible since the two men are competing for the world title. How then can we imagine a team game between two rivals? And yet, the recent Singapore Grand Prix proved to us that Mercedes rarely hesitated to sacrifice his Finnish pilot… 

Asked about the progress of the last race, and this instruction given to Bottas to drive three seconds slower during the GP to protect him, Hamilton stuck his head in the sand and escaped by the same pirouette as his boss Toto wolff in the evening of the night round.

« If you replay the scenario, you will see that the team made the wrong strategy and we were going to go from 2nd to 7th place, rewound the Briton. We were going to do P4 and P7, so the team made the decision to aim for P4 and P5, which brings more points »

It's true that Mercedes and its 134 units ahead of Ferrari in the Manufacturers' standings with six races remaining in the season seems under pressure but let's move on. 

« I didn't have the chance to speak at length with Valtteri after the race, continued Hamilton. We had a short debrief where he expressed his concern. But I can't do anything about it. Valtteri knows it has nothing to do with favoritism because there has never been any in the team. We did not want to find ourselves in such a situation and will do everything to prevent it from happening again. ». 

What is most striking in all this is perhaps the attitude of some of our British colleagues who still went to ask Hamilton if Bottas should not help him to win the title against Ferrari drivers in full renaissance! Are they aware that the five-time world champion's closest rival is none other than his teammate?

« This has never been in my philosophy, Hamilton replied. I want to do the job on my own. I have never asked for a stable deposit. I hated last year's race and wish I hadn't been in this position.

I don't need anyone's help, except the team as a whole obviously. And then I'm fighting with Valtteri for the championship so I don't expect him to make my life easier. If we had fought for victory in Singapore, history would have been different ». 

A little common sense doesn't hurt.