Toto Wolff has insisted that he actually enjoyed hearing Valtteri Bottas angrily criticise the team's strategy over team radio during the French Grand Prix. The Finn was unhappy about Mercedes' decision to run a one-stop strategy during the race given the high levels of tyre degradation and told his engineer: "Why the f**k did nobody listen to me when I said it was a two-stopper?" Whilst some team bosses might have been annoyed by such an outburst, Wolff welcomed the fact that Bottas was speaking his mind. "I loved it, that he speaks his mind now, and doesn’t internalise," Wolff told RacingNews365.com and other select media. However, the Austrian defended the team's strategy call: "We still believe the one-stop was the better strategy. But when fighting so strong after the stop, we just stretched the tyre, stressed the tyres too much to make it all the way to the end." Bottas finished the race in fourth after dropping back in the latter stages of the Grand Prix, but Wolff still feels pleased with the result, particularly given the difficult weekend Bottas had previously at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. "I still think that he delivered a good race to be honest, because he was right up there with Lewis [Hamilton] and Max [Verstappen] for large parts of the race," Wolff explained. "I think the development goes in the right direction, to be honest. Yes, there is still a part, or a gap in tyre management [to Hamilton]. But we’ll look at it in detail in the next few days. "But I see a real progression with how Valtteri tackles the races, and qualifying, we never doubted." Bottas currently sits in fifth place in the Drivers' Standings, whilst teammate Hamilton is in second behind the leading Verstappen.
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