Bottas is not on the same level as Hamilton, but he is surely not hopeless!! 17 poles, 17 fastest laps, 59 podiums and 9 GP wins attest to that. He is driving to his brief and keeps shadowing Hamilton year after year.
True. People say Bottas is hopeless and for sure he is not tier 1. But he is solidly in the tier 2 pack - where most of the other F1 drivers are. Personally, I think he should see out this season with Merc but then swap seats with Russell.
It's not because Russell performed better over one race, that Bottas is hopeless. Hopeless is the word I object too. It's a gross exageration in these circumstances. If a driver with 17 poles, 17 fastest laps, 59 podiums and 9 GP wins is judged hopeless, what about 3/4 of the grid ?
I have the highest regards for all the non paid F1 drivers they're the fastest 20 people on the planet of 7 billion let that sink in
Don’t let the hyperbolic statements of others hurt your feelings. 18 of the remaining 19 drivers on the grid have not had the car Bottas has had since he joined Mercedes, so the question isn’t “how can he be hopeless based on his numbers?” The question is “why hasn’t he been able to at least put up a fight like Rosberg was able to?” If we can’t hope for him to at least do that, what better word to describe him that “hopeless?”
True, but then Toto wouldn't like that and Bottas wouldn't get a contract renewal IF he beats Lewis. The 2nd driver of any Mercedes variant has a decision to make...Either play 2nd fiddle or BEAT the multi-WDC and get a title and then say bye-bye to Mercedes.
George had 1 race. well done. He faces none of the pressure Bottas or LH face. He was fast on an non F1 standard almost oval where there was no real competition. He has a long way to go before others are labeled hopeless. He recently wrecked Bottas out of a race with a very poor decision on a wet track and cost Mercedes significant resources. He also made a major apology about his poor decision. 2 times he has cost Williams, his actual team, points. Not well done.
Although there were many shots to their own feet along the way, Ferrari was certain engaged in a battle with Merc in 2017 & 2018. The quintessential example of self-inflicted wounds was Vettel & Kimi crashing each other out when Seb was leading the WDC (Seb freaked out because Kimi had a better start than him)
In a way that is a summary of Vettel and his reaction to pressure. He is a bit over reactive and not thinking in a longer/larger picture sense. Im sure had Kimi stayed ahead, pitwall engineers a swap rather quickly.
3 possibilities: - Bottas isn't at the same skill level as Hamilton; that still doesn't make him hopeless. - Bottas was probably signed as Number 2; he drives accordingly without challenging Hamilton too often. - The team race strategy is articulated around Number One Hamilton and Bottas is just an instrument. Bottas has been able to beat Hamilton to pole 17 times, and all of his 9 wins were against him too, so his speed and racecraft are not be in question. As others have said before, Bottas one-year contract would probably not have been renewed had he challenged Hamilton the way Rosberg did. It's better to drive at Mercedes as number 2, than at Williams as Number One.
I agree they trust Hamilton to deliver. However I think we have a different view on skill. Simply driving a faster car and overtaking with drs isn’t my view on winning because of skill. Yes driving fast has to do with skill but I think half the field would had captured Max with the Mercedes. It is skill but no special skill. They trust Hamilton with it, but a Leclerc would have done the same. Talking about Lec. They did trust Bottas to take back its place from Leclerc after his pit stop. You mention earlier Hamilton holding of Verstappen on old tyres while Verstappen could not hold Hamilton off showing the quality of Hamilton. The main difference is the RB with DRS could only follow the Mercedes while the Mercedes is much faster. Max has to do it himself while Hamilton simply could drive past him with drs on the strait. And yes I think Hamilton is a very fast driver with few mistakes. This in combination with the best car makes I think one of the best combinations ever in F1. Simply giving Hamilton all the credits however isn’t a realistic view on this I think.
Good points, i don't agree on Mercedes being much faster in Bahrain. RB had the upperhand there. I agree that you don't give Hamilton all the credit, the same with any past champion. My point was Lewis is making it easier for Mercedes to try different strategies, he is currently driving at a very high level.
Does anyone else get the impression that the season is already over ? at least in terms of enjoyment ?? 2019 in Hungary we got an epic fight that was exciting to the very end. While yesterday was essentially the same recipe, the results were already stale by the checker flag.
It says that 3/4 of grid at the same level as Bottas, or better, didn’t have a car as dominant as the Merc. A car which, with a very good driver, is destroying all existing records. If Bottas had stayed at Williams—where he did shine on occasion, when the Merc engine was still miles ahead of the competition—or moved to McLaren, Renault, Racing Point or Sauber, say, those numbers would all be down around ZERO.
« Tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes ». - A British driver is erasing most of the records held by a Ferrari driver. - A German team based in England is also erasing the previous records of the same Ferrari team. -The FIA that for many years has done everything to ensure that this situation continues or even increases. -Bottas well, which remains Bottas ..
Chances are it’s a combination of all three. You know what’s better than driving for Williams as a number one and driving for Mercedes as a complacent number two? Actually mounting an effort against your teammate to be world champion. I’m not a Rosberg fan in the least, and don’t rate him highly, but at least he didn’t roll over. That’s why Bottas is hopeless, at least in that context. Contract be damned. If you’re an F1 driver, you drive to win. If you don’t win, than at least you tried.
The circumstances are different, and probably Toto Wolff learnt a lot from allowing 2 of his drivers fight each other. I presume he now only offers a watertight one year contract to any number 2 , to avoid a repeat of the destructive infighting in his team. That entertained the public, but the MB management that looks after their investment maybe wasn't so amused. This is also a World Constructors Championship. Yes, Bottas could throw caution to the wind and go rogue, ignore teams instructions and challenge Hamilton on the track. That's not in the script. How long that would last before he would reap the consequences of his undiscipline is anyone's guess. The team would probably make him feel their discontent; you know: race strategy, longer pit stops, airgun that jams, not sharing data, that sort of things. Bottas would in all probability see any chance to renew his contract go up in smoke: Toto is not one to be fooled around! So, Bottas accepts reality and plays his role the best he can. Deep down, he probably knows he wouldn't win against Hamilton in the long run. "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush"
If he was the mercedes number one driver, then merc would probably have won one or two championships in the last four years, even with such a dominant car. Yeah, he's a bridesmaid.
