Despite the fact that Mercedes's planned strategy was thrown into disarray by Bottas' failed pit stop, Toto Wolff again had bet on the Finn as a remedy to Max Verstappen's pressure in Bahrain, according to Marc Surer.
"[Wolff] doesn't want to tell the truth," Surer said in conversation with Motorsport-Total.com: "But [Mercedes] needed Bottas to put Verstappen under pressure."
Undercut went wrong
The former driver and Formula One expert is referring to the intended undercut that Mercedes tried to make on Verstappen via Valtteri Bottas. "With Bottas' early stop they forced Verstappen to change tires as well," Surer said.
However, this plan backfired spectacularly when Bottas was left in the pit lane for a good ten seconds due to a malfunctioning wrench. If this had not happened the Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit would have seen significantly different outcome, Surer believes: "But otherwise that would have been decisive."