Season leading team Mercedes told its drivers, Hamilton and Bottas, to stop trying for a point that they were trying to fetch for themselves by having the fastest lap.
Valtteri Bottas later revealed that it was impossible for him to beat his team mate fastest lap time before the orders came from the team.
Lewis Hamilton, this season leading driver, manage to score the additional point after the safety car came in on second lap. He was able to mark the time of 1 minute and 18.492 seconds, which others could not manage.
“The team reminded me about the fastest lap,” Hamilton explained.
He added, “I went for it, I can’t remember what lap it was, but initially I pulled a really nice gap, like five seconds after a couple of laps, a really good couple of decent laps, and then I think after that I did the fastest lap.
“Then I was about to go again but they said that I had it.”
Bottas also tried to catch his team mate on time scale before Mercedes interrupted their ambitions to keep pushing for the fastest lap.
Mercedes asked them to back off from compromising the race. Bottas initially tried but couldn’t find his way past his team mate Hamilton.
“The first lap of the restart I tried to see if there’s any opportunity for me to get him,” said Bottas.
“There wasn’t, so the next lap I went to charging mode on the battery so I fully charged it, tried the lap after but I felt I’d already lost the edge of the new tyre.
“So Lewis had it one lap earlier so he got it. Obviously for me being right behind him it’s quite impossible with the same car to set a quicker lap time.”
Bottas has been ambitious this season and has been aiming for the world title. He has been challenging his team on the track. He also managed to win two races and has been continually challenging Hamilton.
He also tried for the quickest lap but could not close the gap of 0.245 seconds to Hamilton. He stood at 1 minute and 18.737 seconds and had wanted to tried but he was told: “OK Valtteri so instruction you’re not going for fastest lap until the end, Lewis has got fastest lap.”
