Toto Wolff has not ruled out Valtteri Bottas being “sacrificed” in the Drivers’ World Championship fight – but not until much later in the season.

Bottas’ hopes of emulating Nico Rosberg by wresting the crown from his Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton look to have already gone for another year.

The Finn heads into round eight of the campaign, the Styrian Grand Prix in Austria, trailing Hamilton by 60 points in the standings and is a further 12 behind championship leader Max Verstappen.

The title fight looks very much a two-horse race even at this early stage with the other Mercedes and Red Bull drivers, Bottas and Sergio Perez respectively, reduced to back-up roles with their main focus likely to be on helping their teams in the Constructors’ battle.

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