Mika Häkkinen “Consider the facts” in the Mercedes episode

After the supervision of Liberty Media, it is the turn of Mika Häkkinen, double world champion in 1998 and 1999, to give a point of view in line with the instructions of Mercedes in Sochi, Russia.

Yet close to Valtteri Bottas, the Finn recalls that all elements must be taken into account to provide an objective judgment on the situation.

“Anyone who thinks that Mercedes' victory was easy and that there is no reason for the team management to ask Valtteri to give the victory to Lewis must take into account the facts,” comments Häkkinen in his column for Unibet.

At pit stops, Sebastian Vettel was able to get closer to Valtteri, then make the undercut on Lewis. At this point in the race things looked very close and even though Lewis managed to pass Sebastian very quickly, the Mercedes team really needed to put Valtteri between the two World Championship contenders in order to protect Lewis. »

The example of history

And to support his words, the former pilot McLaren does not hesitate to remember what he was able to experience within the Woking team in the 90s. “When I was racing for McLaren-Mercedes alongside David Coulthard, our immediate rivals were the Ferrari de Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine.

It was top opposition and, to win the World Championship in 1998 and 1999, I needed David's support on a few occasions. He was asked to let me pass, for example, at Melbourne in 1998 because we agreed that whoever led into the first corner would take the win and then I lost some time in the pits.

These decisions don't make the other driver happy, but David knew what was expected of him and he always admitted that when you have a contract to drive a team, you have to do what the team asks. Otherwise we have chaos. »

Discover our feedback on Mercedes instructions in Russia, in AUTO issue 2185hebdo, available now in digital version and on newsstands.