{Take him with you if you can; he can protect us against Verstappen,} Bono, Lewis Hamilton's race engineer, said on the radio as they arrived at the start-finish straight.
Fatih, currently behind Hamilton, opened the DRS flap on the start-finish straight but didn't attempt to break to the side at all. He remained in Hamilton's slipstream to gain the maximum advantage, as Verstappen behind him also had DRS and was coming down on him very rapidly.
{I will do my best, but if he is slowing me down, I will leave him,} Hamilton said as he arrived at the end of the straight while looking in his rear-view mirror.
{At your discretion,} Bono said, leaving the decision for when to open a gap up to Hamilton.
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David Croft: "And Mercedes is now playing a long game to keep Verstappen in check, using Red Bull's sister team. I wonder if AlphaTauri will give out team orders for Fatih to let Verstappen through?"
