Villeneuve: Team orders are fine but this is too much

In the wake of a riveting Sunday afternoon at Monza, 1997 Formula 1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, a pundit for Sky Italia, was not impressed with the manner in which Mercedes achieved victory on the home soil of arch-rivals and pre-race favourites Ferrari.

During a crucial spell in the race, race leader Kimi Raikkonen led, increasing the gap on chasing Hamilton after the pitstops but several laps later with the Mercedes on much fresher rubber the gap started to close.

At that point, Bottas led because he had not pitted and got the command from the Mercedes pitwall: "Keep Kimi behind you."

The Finn duly obliged - sacrificing his own race - and the rest is history.

Hamilton was informed of his teammate's help, he got on the gas, Bottas backed up Raikkonen (a silver sandwich) which allowed the world champion to attack and on lap 45 of the 53 lap race he pounced to take the lead where he stayed until the end.

Meanwhile, Raikkonen's tyres fell off the cliff and he limped home in second. Bottas got third for his role as Hamilton's wingman. Or fixer? Or blocker?

But, after the cracking race, Villeneuve was not impressed, "The manner in which this win came about is very disappointing. It is not a good victory for Mercedes. Team orders are fine but this is too much."

"They decided to damage their rival's race by using a teammate and even gave the command over the radio! Then they told Hamilton that Bottas was helping him at the front..."

"It's too much information. For the past two races they have been using Bottas in this manner. It's time for Ferrari to start playing the same way."

The straight-talking Canadian also questioned Ferrari's failings, "They have had a superior car for the past four races and they only won once. This is annoying."

"They don't take advantage of times when Hamilton seems to be a bit down. These opportunities cannot be wasted, because now [Ferrari] are superior but not out of reach," added Villeneuve.