Wolff will not give team orders for the rest of this season

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has said that he won't be giving team orders for the rest of the season, as he thinks that Mercedes' strategists are capable of making those calls themselves if necessary.

When Mercedes drivers Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton were told to swap positions in Sochi, essentially taking away Bottas's first win of the season, Wolff took all responsibility rather than chief strategist James Vowles.

Bottas was leading the race and on pace to win, but with Hamilton being closely followed by Sebastian Vettel in P2, Wolff made the call for Bottas to let Hamilton past. The Finn was visibly shaken by this, and even Hamilton didn't like winning in the way he did, but it helped the team get closer to both titles, as they can seal the drivers' and the constructors' championship next weekend in Austin.

"When our plane flies in qualifying and in the race, James [Vowles] flies the airplane and all I can do is comment and give him feedback and input but ultimately it’s his decision what to do,” Wolff was quoted by PlanetF1.

“He’s in command at that moment even though from my ranking I’m higher up, but I will not interfere - it's his call in the end.

“So I’m having my special button with James [Allison] where we’re offloading all the crap and vice versa, just not to offload it onto the guys that are actually flying the plane.

“Unless I am 100% convinced that he’s not spotted something, which is when I will give him the input, I will not interfere with the final decision.”

Easy to say now that you've pretty much won both championships already, Toto.