Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says securing victory for Valtteri Bottas was the main focus despite Lewis Hamilton's complaints in Japan.
The Finn put himself in prime position to take his first win since Baku by taking the lead from the slow-starting Ferrari's on the run to Turn 1 and opened up a solid lead in the first stint.
When Sebastian Vettel switched to a two-stop strategy, Mercedes followed suit with Bottas to ensure track position, but when Hamilton stopped and came out almost 20 seconds behind his teammate he let rip over the radio calling it a "f**k-up"
“Lewis in third was always between a rock and a hard place,” Wolff explained via Crash.net.
“What we did is protect the lead with Valtteri and took the pace out of his race, once Sebastian pitted for his second stop.
Initially, it appeared Hamilton would try a one-stop race in an effort to stay in contention, but the Mercedes chief doesn't think even would have made a difference.
“It was always clear it would go towards Valtteri, we’re not playing teammates against each other with race strategy, but then we can say we could have assured second place," Wolff conceded.
“Pitting Lewis at the end was a 50-50 call. We could have left him out and tried to ask the drivers to change position to give the result back and maybe protect it against Sebastian.
“But on the other side maybe not protecting against Sebastian, so pitting and giving him a new set of tyres was the decision that was being taken, at that stage, it felt like the right decision.”
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After making his second stop, Hamilton quickly reeled in the Ferrari but couldn't get close enough on the main straight to attempt a pass, ultimately settling for third.
As for the world champion's vocal unhappiness at the strategy he was given, the Austrian played it down.
“We completely acknowledge that a driver is eager to win and wants to maximise every opportunity,” he said.
“If you don’t it’s simply annoying, and I think we completely understand each other’s position.
“Also, for us and Lewis knows that very well and has total understanding for us in the garage. It’s very difficult to take the right decisions in order to ensure maximum points.
“As long as you embrace the different positions, we have always come back, discussed it and moved forward as an even stronger unit.”
