Bottas: "I am still allowed to win"

It must have been a tough one to take for Valtteri Bottas last week at the Russian Grand Prix, having to give over what would have been an extremely deserved win to Lewis Hamilton to aid the Brit’s title challenge.

Switching positions allowed Hamilton to gain an extra seven points and go 50 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel in their championship scrap, with Bottas too far behind to realistically drag himself back into the running.

The Finn took pole and led from the start at the Sochi Autodrom, one of his best tracks, but received the dreaded team orders call, which put a dampener on the whole race for both drivers and fans.

Bottas has never finished on the podium at the Japanese Grand Prix, which takes place at Suzuka this weekend, and although he said all the right things in the media, the heartache of having to miss out on only his fourth Grand Prix win must still be burning deep inside him.

Bottas admits that he is now playing as a team player to Hamilton, but he still says he is allowed to win.

He told reporters in Japan: “Definitely I am still allowed to win, but it will depend on the situation.

“It will really be case by case. The team told me that and that was also what I expected.

“I just need to accept it now that I’m in this situation because of everything that has happened earlier in the season.

“I cannot fight for the championship anymore, Lewis is, I’m a team player and I’m willing to help.”