That was my thoughts as well. With title won, Bottas needed some help in getting as many points as possible leading into the last race of the year, and a call was made. At that point IMHO, it didn't matter. The team couldn't un-see what had transpired up to that point (Russell's performance). So it will be interesting to see what happens next year in a seat for Russell, Perez, and of course the one hanging on for dear life, Albon. As much as I dislike Verstappen, I hated to see his race end with him not doing something overly aggressive to cause his DNF.