After Valtteri Bottas powered to pole position in qualifying for the Russian Grand Prix, Toto Wolff conceded that imposing team orders would be cruel, but on race day the Mercedes chief ruthlessly pushed the 'Tactics' button which commanded the Finn to cede the lead to teammate Lewis Hamilton who went on to win the race.
On lap 30 Bottas literally pulled over to allow his teammate into second place, which became first and victory after race leader, at the time, Max Verstappen pitted for fresh tyres.
As Bottas crossed the line in second, Wolff was quick on the radio: "Valtteri this is Toto... Difficult day for you and a difficult day for us. Let's discuss it afterwards when we come together and we'll explain things."
Later, the team chief added, "We are all racers at heart and what we want to see is out and out racing, let the quickest man win. And then we are a bunch of rational guys and we discussed a bunch of things in the morning - and then everything is different in the race.
"This is what happened today. We should be over the moon with a one and two and fundamentally we are, but it still went against Valtteri. It would have been a race win for him and we changed it.
"It's deflating for drivers, it's deflating for a team. But there's a harsh reality also that on such a day you can extend the lead by seven points more for a championship that has been very tough and very difficult at times."
"It was one lap too late with Lewis and he lost a position to Sebastian, this triggered, let's call it the mes, because we came out behind Sebastian. Lewis needed to attack, and that caused the blister and that blister we needed to protect when Seb was all over him," added Wolff.
As a result of his victory, Hamilton now leads the drivers' championship by 50 points with five rounds remaining and Mercedes now lead the constructors' championship by 53 point - done and dusted springs to mind...
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