As the leading W11 en route, Bottas took precedence at the stops, and after a stint on the hard tire, he made his second stop on lap 32.
Instead of getting into a round later – as was the case in the first round of stops – Hamilton took his hard ties all the way to round 41, and in fact the world champion ended up hoping he could reach the rumored flag without a second stop.
Eventually, the strategy ensured that Hamilton came for Bottas to take second place, although both men lost to race winner Max Verstappen.
Wolff says the team was able to investigate the tires that came out of Bottas’ car and, deciding that there was still some life in it, made the call to leave Hamilton for as long as possible.
After the race, Bottas said his team was caught sleeping, a suggestion Wolff refutes.
“I just talked to Valtteri,” the Austrian said when asked about his driver’s comments. “I do not think we are sleeping, but I accept his perspective. I think we had the slower car today, and we just acknowledge that.
“His point was if we should have done the opposite with Max.
“In fact, this would not have changed anything, because Max would come out with a fresh tire, and we would continue with a tire that was no longer in the best condition, and he just picked it up for us. So not sure on what we could have done better.
“Of course he’s not in a happy place that he was P2 and Lewis was P3, but it was the learning that happened on track when we entered Valtteri’s tire. We saw that there was actually a lot of rubber left, and we extended Lewis’ stint, though it was great vibrations, but a lot of rubber.
“That’s why he got faster and faster, the more the rubber fell down, and that’s why we were able to extend the stint, and eventually defeated Lewis Valtteri.
“It’s clear he’s not happy, and I fully respect that. None of us are happy with the result today.”
Wolff objected that a combination of factors led Mercedes to wrestle with the tires in the race.
“I think we had indications in the past that our relative gap was not that big for our competitors when it was hot,” he said. “It’s a little simplistic to just say it’s hotter.
“It comes down to the fact that we have a car with high downforce, and of course as conditions change, parameters change, like temperatures go up, connections become softer, pressure up, we have to recognize that the Red Bull is a fairly fast car, and that is what we have seen today.
“We have these days in the past, and came out stronger, and I’m really looking forward to Barcelona. We have a handful of days to assess, come up with solutions, test them on Friday in Barcelona, and then hopefully have a better race on Sunday. These days where we lose are the days where we learn the most. “
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