Bottas insists his role is not to support Hamilton

Valtteri Bottas is adamant his role at Mercedes is not to support team-mate, Lewis Hamilton. Going against what the Finn said, last weekend he was given a team order to back off and gift Hamilton the race win.

After the safety car period in Germany, Bottas went on to attack race leader Hamilton. However, he was told to give in by Mercedes strategy chief James Vowles.

Following plenty of debate, Bottas was asked direct questions earlier this afternoon.

Bottas went on to claim he understood why the team made the decision. He also has faith in the Mercedes garage that they would have backed him had it been the other way around.