Bottas: It is what it is

It had been a weekend in which Bottas qualified on pole with a strong performance in qualifying and was in control of the race - albeit behind Max Verstappen at that point, the Red Bull driver pitting later in the race - until the dreaded team order came from his pitwall to cede the lead and thus victory to teammate Lewis Hamilton.

In the end, he was once again used as a wingman to the benefit of his championship-leading teammate.

The race-altering order came just after the halfway mark from his race engineer Tony Ross: "You need to let Lewis by into Turn 13 this lap."

Bottas obeyed and did the right thing, taking one for the team, with grace and dignity that would have defied the burning anger a racer feels when robbed of victory in such a cruel manner.

Emotional as he emerged from his car, he was embraced by Hamilton but soom the Finn was composed, calm and impeccably articulate when he said afterwards, "A difficult day. A good result for us as a team and we got maximum points but personally, it was quite a difficult race."

"We always go through all the scenarios, Lewis is fighting for the championship and we are fighting for the constructors', so we always have a plan - but it's always difficult to predict what's going to happen in the race."

"It is what it is," lamented the Finn who would have scored his fourth grand prix victory had his team not decided otherwise, instead Hamilton notched up his 70th, but hardly one he will remember fondly.

Mercedes team chief Toto Wolff who appears to have made the call conceded, "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.

"Valtteri is such a tremendous team player. Lewis was far back and we told him to switch positions at Turn 13 and he did it immediately. That's what you want to have within the team, to rely on those guys,"

"This is what makes it feel even worse. But a win is a win, a one and two, we have 50 points advantage and that feels good," explained Wolff