Bottas beat Mercedes teammate Hamilton by just 0.096s to top qualifying at th🧔e Italian Grande Prix and secure a front-of-the-grid start for F1’s second-ever sprint race on Saturday.

Hamilton tr👍ails Red Bull’s Max V๊erstappen by three points in title race and the championship leader will start the sprint race from third on the grid.

Bottas faces a back-of-the-grid start for Sunday’s Italian GP after taking his fourth power unit of the season in a “s♔trategic” move before qualifying.

“It’s difficult generally wh🎃en you have to call team orders,” Wolff told Sky Sports when asked what Mercedes’ plan is for the race. “All of us are racers and we don’t want to see that.

“He [Bottas] should be where he is on🎶 merit. But in any case,♔ Valtteri is going anyway all the way to the back on Sunday.

“So we need to see how the start pans out because there is not too much to discuss, just be careful in the first cor▨ner and then see where they are.”

When suggested to him that Mercedes would presumably swap Bottas and Hamilton around if they remain in🔯 that order and have a gap to Verstappen, Wolff replied: “Yeah presu💦mably.”

Bottas, who will lose his Mercedes seat to George Russell♑ next year, was fastest in qualifying for only the second time this season.

Mercedes has enjoyed a 💮performance advantag꧋e over Red Bull at Monza throughout the V6 hybrid era and that form continued on Friday.

B🐭ut Wolff dismissed the notion that Mercedes can be considered clear favourites in Italy and at the next❀ race in Russia.

“I think that kind of nosta🎉lgic reflection, which tracks suit whi♛ch car, is not true anymore this year because we’ve been pretty strong in Hungary,” he said.

“We should have been strong in Holland, but we were lacking pace in two cars and that made all the difference. So I am not judging it, ho🌠w we will do.”