Bottas can only win if he holds everybody off. I don't think he's a great person at overtaking, and definitely not with others around him. So maybe it's the only tactic he can manage now. Get into pole, so do your best in qualifying, and then just keep it there and frustrate everyone else or get teammates to do that job.
I tend to agree with this, but next year(s) will actually get to prove you/us wrong or right.
This race basically showed me that Mercedes might have got their car a lot better in the last few races. Looking at how Max wasn't getting any closer to Bottas showed me that Mercedes must be better than Red Bull right now.
There are known to be races favoring cars like the Mercedes and races that favor cars like the RedBull. They go for different aerodynamics, at least. There are big differences between them in acceleration and breaking.
This race was favoring the Mercedes, hence it was somewhat easier for Valtteri. It doesn't really tell anything definitive about the cars. Also Max was complaining about steering issues, so he may not have been forcing the car as usual to avoid... an abandon maybe.