Valtteri Bottas insists he and team-mate Lewis Hamilton are still permitted to race, and have an “equal chance”, in the wake of instructions being issued at last weekend's Formula 1 German Grand Prix.
Hamilton worked his way forward from 14th on the grid to take the lead in a rain-affected race at Hockenheim, with Bottas holding second place at the restart.
The Mercedes duo battled at the restart with Hamilton preserving the inside line into the hairpin and Turn 8 to hold onto the lead.
Shortly after their scrap Bottas was instructed to hold position, a message he obeyed, and Hamilton went on to head a 1-2 finish for the manufacturer.
Team boss Toto Wolff explained in the aftermath that the situation would have been repeated had Bottas been the lead driver, and the Finn asserted that he has full faith of his status.
“I do believe we are still allowed to race freely,” said Bottas.
“Obviously it always is case by case but there’s no plan in place at the moment for me being at all in a support role.
“We are still on equal terms and that’s the plan for now. Obviously, hopefully it'll continue until the end of the year.
“I think with all the difficult races we had in the triple header, we lost so many points with different causes so I kind of get the team's position after lap one [after the Safety Car] we were side by side a couple of times and they wanted to get those points.
“I am very confident they would have done the same if I was at the lead at that point. That’s how it is.”
Bottas expanded further, commenting: “We are still both trying to collect maximum points, trying to always win the race, we always have equal chance for that so one way or another if me and Lewis end up in a similar situation then it's up to the team.
“We are on equal terms and I am still allowed to try and catch him in the points.”
