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Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff says Valtteri Bottas needs more of a "killer" approach, but defended his Brazilian Grand Prix drive.

Bottas lost his Interlagos pole advantage to Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari at the start and had to settle for second.

In the other Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton came from a pitlane start to fourth - just 2.7 seconds behind Bottas at the finish.

PODCAST: Did Vettel win it or Bottas throw it away?



Though Wolff rejected suggestions Hamilton's performance showed Bottas should have been able to overcome Vettel, he admitted there was a disparity between his drivers.

"I think Lewis the whole year has been rock and roll, and Valtteri has recovered slowly but still needs the tick of a killer," said Wolff.

"But you must not underestimate that in traffic against the Ferraris it was pretty difficult.

"You can see that at the end, when Ferrari switched the engine on, there was not much difference between the cars. Therefore you cannot expect easy overtakes."

GP ANALYSIS: The chronic weaknesses that decided Interlagos



With little hope of Bottas being able to overtake Vettel on track, Wolff admitted that Mercedes gambled with an early pitstop to try to undercut Ferrari.

"Valtteri had a solid race. He lost it at the start," said Wolff.

"The initial getaway was good but there was too much wheelspin through the gears and if the gap is so close between the cars then there is not a lot in it.

"Our undercut was a little move of desperation because we couldn't get too close, and we knew that probably it lacked half a second - but nevertheless we gave it a go and the result was as expected."