Unfair to pick on Sergio It was an incident packed race even LH spun of track Plus he's new to RB you will see him shine in the near future
Maybe so. But the only driver learning anything would have been Russell. For Bottas it was business as usual. Kind of surprised he didn’t throw him over the fence after string bean tapped his helmet. 63 has been licking his chops to get Bottles’ seat and obviously thought dive bombing Valtteri during a bad race was an expedient method to demonstrate driver superiority to his potential employers. Call me cynical. Or better yet, let me have Toto say it. https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/wolff-russell-has-lots-to-learn-after-f1-crash-with-bottas-at-imola/6332943/
I think it goes without question that LH was very fortunate his Merc teammates had brain spasms. He very likely would have scored in the lower points position without that. I think DF1 is just saying that (unlike, say, VB) Hamilton was able to successfully recover from his mistakes by continuing to push forward. He shoots himself in the foot at times, but has enough composure to keep pushing forward and to get as much as he can.
you are absolutely correct. His comment about “he wouldn’t have done that to another driver”) betrays his mindset. VB has a right avoid being passed (did he just learn that?) and the onus was on Russel to execute the right pass in the right place (on a wet track, to boot)
I was just watching the race in TV, and it looked very much to me that Bottas was drifting to the right just before the incident happened. I watched it several times, frame by frame; Bottas probably instinctivelly did that to save his place and "intimidate" Russell not to pass him. Russell saw the path in front of him shrinking and tool to the grass, causing the wreck. Toto Wolff who manages both drivers has a different outlook on things. He considers that a junior driver in the "Mercedes Academy" shouldn't have challenged a factory driver in those conditions. This brings brand loyalty and financial costs to the equation, beyond sporting etiquette. Russell making some accusations to the media probably didn't help his cause, but I sympathise with him.
I think the assessment if fair. The new guys do seem to need more time to get adjusted. Riccardo didn't crash or anything, but the difference against Norris was substantial. This was a tricky race to start and even Hamilton (and Verstappen) had issues. Hamilton had the lucky break with the Race being stopped and Verstappen with the quick recovery. If he had taken a bit more time with his spin maybe Norris would have been second. So that was a lucky escape as well.
Debatable. The rule says that a driver isn't supposed to change direction or swerve on a straight to prevent being passed. Otherwise, overtaking would become impossible. Many successful passes were made on the spot where the Bottas/Russell accident happened. Drivers usually yield when a faster car with activated DRS catches them on that part of the circuit. For reasons I can fathom out, Bottas didn't.
Some of Hamilton's attempts to pass Norris were similar to Russell's ill fated attempt on Bottas. Hamilton was quick enough on one or two attempts to back off even though he was starting to have the speed advantage. He's experienced enough to tell when to go for it for sure. Russell probably doesn't quite have that mastered. Having said that, even though it may well be a racing incident, my 60ish% fault goes to Bottas. He must have seen Russell coming fast and his slow move to the right to occupy the middle of the road was too casual and optimistic, perhaps thinking that Russell wouldn't dare to try, but he did. The crash was scary and I wouldn't want to guess what would have happened if the collision was 50m or 100m further closer to Tamburello.
Great race for Chuck and Carl. The chassis seems sorted but they still lack power. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Oh Dear not a fanboy. Truth. He took what he had given to him and made the best of it. Period. He did what the team pays him to do. How the luck works out is not in our or his control. He reacted and took action.
Sorry Russell but your 'seat' at Mercedes is never a sure thing LOL https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/wolff-russell-has-lots-to-learn-after-f1-crash-with-bottas-at-imola/6332943/ Wolff: Russell has "lots to learn" after F1 crash with Bottas at Imola By: Luke Smith Apr 18, 2021, 12:52 PM Toto Wolff believes George Russell has “lots to learn” following his Formula 1 crash with Valtteri Bottas at Imola, saying the Mercedes car is almost a write-off. Image Unavailable, Please Login Williams driver Russell collided with Bottas when trying to overtake for ninth place at high-speed during Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, resulting in a sizeable crash. The incident left debris strewn across the track and caused the race to be red-flagged, and sparked angry reactions from both Russell and Bottas, who blamed each other. Mercedes team principal Wolff said that, while there was “never such a situation in life where one is 100% to blame and the other zero”, he questioned why Russell made the move that he did, particularly as a Mercedes young driver. “The whole situation should have never happened,” Wolff said. “Valtteri had a bad first 30 laps, and shouldn’t have been there. But George should have never launched into this manoeuvre, considering that the track was drying up. “It meant taking risks, and the other car is a Mercedes in front of him. In any driver’s development, for a young driver, you must never lose this global perspective. “So yeah, lots to learn for him I guess.” Russell has been a member of Mercedes’ young driver programme since 2017, and has been tipped as a possible future driver for the senior team. Image Unavailable, Please Login Marshals clear the damaged car of Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes W12, from the gravel trap Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images Wolff felt Russell should have handled the situation differently given he was fighting against a Mercedes car. “You need to see that there is a Mercedes and it is wet, it bears a certain risk to overtake,” Wolff said. “And the odds are against him anyway when the track is drying up. Now I don’t want him to try to prove anything to us, because one thing I can say since knowing Valtteri for five years, he’s not trying to prove anything.” Following the incident, Russell questioned why Bottas made the move he did when battling for ninth place, saying: “Perhaps if it was another driver, he wouldn’t have. So that’s what went through my mind." Russell has been tipped as a possible successor to Bottas at Mercedes, potentially as early as 2022. When told the quote by Autosport, Wolff said the suggestion was “********”. “The whole situation is absolutely not amusing for us, to be honest,” Wolff said. “It’s quite a big shunt. Our car is almost a write-off in a cost-cap environment that is certainly what we needed, and probably it’s going to limit upgrades that we’re able to do. “Simply the fact that we ended there by losing it in the wet, because there was no contact, losing it on the wet, and making both cars crash out is not what I expect to see.”
The reality is that (against all hopes) Ferrari is still completely off the pace. They are outperformed by Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren (which would mean best possible place 7th haven't the other teams second drivers screwed up) and without the red flag / restart the time difference would have been colossal.
The rain made it better for some, and not for others. I would have preferred it not have rained and seen what would have happened. Perez was disappointing. At times he seemed to try too hard, and at other times, not hard enough. I would have thought that Perez recovering those two positions under the yellow should have been fine...just like Leclerc did on the pace lap. It was only two cars and all very quick. Amazing how slow three WDC are...Kimi, Alonzo and Vettel should open pubs in their home towns, and get old and fat telling stories to their customers. All in all, a sloppy race from my pov.
Mercedes needed the Bottas-Russell crash so Hamilton could finish second. Toto is happy on the inside.
The two things I really took away from this is how interesting the rivalry between Leclerc, Norris, Verstappen, and Russell will be, and how Russell is really setting himself up to be the villain.
And of course u would say the same if Leclerc wasn’t driving a Ferrari right? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
