Bottas admits Mercedes team orders could continue in Japan

Mercedes have told Valtteri Bottas that they will carry on using team orders until Lewis Hamilton secures the world championship.

Hamilton won in Russia last Sunday to extend his title lead over Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel to 50 points after Bottas was instructed to move aside for his team-mate.

The controversial decision caused uproar among some of the sport's fans, while Bottas, and for that matter Hamilton – who admitted it was the hollowest victory of his career – were left uncomfortable by the order.

Hamilton revealed in Suzuka ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix that he did not want to be on the podium in Sochi to celebrate the 70th win of his career which edges him ever closer to a fifth championship.

Up until last Sunday, Mercedes had largely allowed their drivers to race, but Bottas admitted he now faces the prospect of being told to step aside once more for Hamilton with only five rounds remaining.

"It could definitely happen again," Bottas, 117 points adrift of Hamilton, said.

"Yes (Mercedes have told me), and that is what I expect.

"I will be supporting Lewis. I just need to accept it and it is now the situation I am in because of everything that has happened earlier in the season. I can't fight any more for the championship.

"I am a team player and I am willing to help. It is what I do, and when it is time, and I am allowed to win, I will do it.

"But it doesn't mean that I am not a racer and I don't want to win. Winning is everything, but that time will come later."

Hamilton and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, who admitted he spent last Saturday night and much of the race in Sochi agonising over the switch, toasted an absent Bottas with 500 of the team's staff at their factory in Brackley, Northamptonshire on Monday. Bottas was not present after travelling, as scheduled, straight to Japan from Russia.

Reflecting on last Sunday, Hamilton added: "It was super-uncomfortable on the podium, and I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to be up there, and it didn't feel right standing on the top step."

The 33-year-old Englishman arrives at a track which he has dominated in recent years, winning three of the last four races, while his Mercedes team have not been beaten here since 2013.

While Hamilton is set to be aided by Bottas for the remainder of the season, it is more than plausible that he will not have to rely on the Finn, having spent much of the season comfortably clear of his team-mate.

Indeed, Bottas's pole marked the first time he had out-qualified Hamilton on merit in six races. The British driver has also won eight times this year. Bottas is yet to get off the mark.

"I don't arrive here thinking that Valtteri has to work for me," he added. "I have given my hardest throughout the year, and conducted myself in the right way. This has been the best-performing season so far in my career.

"This is the most unusual sport in the sense that you have the drivers' and constructors' championships. So unlike football where everyone works toward one goal there are two goals here and you are conflicted.

"Like some of the fans, I am definitely split (on team orders), but it has happened, it is done and dusted, and collectively as a team we still stay united through the experience."