Team orders may see Bottas playing second fiddle

Formula One world champions Mercedes may have to increasingly favour Lewis Hamilton over new teammate Valtteri Bottas to counter the threat posed by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel this season. This was clear during Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix where “team orders” were issued in Hamilton’s favour at Bottas’ expense so that the Briton could stay in the hunt for the title.Twice Bottas let triple champion teammate Lewis Hamilton through to try and take on Vettel, an attempt that ultimately proved in vain as the Briton ended up second and Bottas third.The Finn had started on pole position, a career first, but tyre pressure problems at the start and a general lack of pace left the Finn struggling to challenge Vettel after the German had taken the lead.Bottas was disappointed but said the team directives made sense.“As a racing driver it’s maybe the worst thing you want to hear. That’s how it is,” Bottas, who joined Mercedes in January as the replacement for retired world champion Nico Rosberg, told reporters.“When I heard the call initially, for me it made sense. He seemed to have a bit more pace and the gap between me and Sebastian was getting bigger and Lewis was putting pressure on me behind. “I completely understand the decision from the team to request that, and of course I did it. I did it for the team even though it didn’t feel good for me personally.”Mercedes have never had a designated number one driver, and team boss Tito Wolff said the desire was to give both equal opportunity at the start of the race.The team won all but two races last season but are no longer dominant in a championship that has for the past three years been an internal battle.Vettel has now won two of three races and is seven points clear of Hamilton.Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen, Vettel’s 2007 champion teammate who has yet to stand on the podium this season and not been on pole since 2008, slipped 34 points behind — half as many as the German.Bottas, who joined Mercedes in January as replacement for now-retired world champion Nico Rosberg, is 23 adrift of his teammate.The disparity between the current Mercedes pairing is more marked than before, with Bottas yet to win a race and Hamilton surpassed only by Michael Schumacher in the all-time lists with 54 victories.Bahrain was Bottas’s first career pole position, whereas Hamilton has 63 and could sail past Schumacher’s record of 68 later in the year.The Finn is also still settling into his new surroundings, whereas Hamilton has been there since 2013 and is the sport’s biggest personality. Hamilton had been on pole for six races in a row until Bottas broke the sequence in Bahrain and Wolff said Mercedes appeared to be still slightly ahead of Ferrari on single lap pace.“In the race it’s pretty evenly matched I would say. So I think that’s going to be a close one for the next couple of races.” Formula One fans would be hoping for exactly that.