Toto Wolff has told Valtteri Bottas that he won’t sack him this season no matter how badly he performs. ‘Unless Valtteri gets flu and can’t drive, he is going to be in the car,’ declared Wolff. Clearly, Wolff believes the Hamilton-Bottas combination is good enough to deliver an eighth consecutive constructors’ title. Of all the things said and written about Bottas this week, perhaps the most telling was Hamilton’s vote of confidence in him. During press conferences alongside Hamilton and Max Verstappen, all talk of the title fight takes place around Bottas, as if he isn’t there. He has been battered too often by Hamilton’s heavy hands to take him the distance.

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