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Valtteri Bottas showed an excellent performance at the Nürburgring and left world championship leader Lewis Hamilton far behind. World champion Nico Rosberg feels a weakness in Hamilton.
Strong announcement from Valtteri Bottas at the Nürburgring: he stopped a race by Lewis Hamilton, who had five poles in a row before the Eifel GP weekend. Bottas not only left his stablemate Mercedes behind, he gave him almost three-tenths of a second, that rarely happens.
Nico Rosberg, who became Formula 1 World Champion with Mercedes in 2016, says in his analysis of the final practice: “This best lap for Valtteri was really fantastic. It looked perfect, and Bottas later confirmed it: it was really perfect. And this under the greatest pressure, Bottas did very well. That is exactly the message he has to send to Hamilton at this stage of the World Cup. Valtteri has to send the signal to Hamilton: ‘Hey, this World Cup hasn’t been played yet, I’m still fighting for the title here! Now he has to turn this starting position into a victory on Sunday. “
Lewis Hamilton was quick in the first two qualifying segments, but could not improve in the third part of the final practice. Nico Rosberg smells: “I can well imagine that Lewis brought all the negativity of the weekend from Russia to the ring, in Sochi he had received this penalty and was only third. And that’s exactly Hamilton’s weakness. Sometimes you can lose all your momentum due to an incident. Such a setback can lead to weakness so it can take some careers. “
As Lewis Hamilton’s former stablemate Rosberg puts it: “You have to try to keep him there and at the same time get the best possible results during this phase. So if Lewis is really in that phase, and we will see him on Sunday, Valtteri must now make the most of it. It’s one of the few chances you have in a duel with Lewis. “
Valtteri Bottas’s task is a difficult one: with seven races still pending, he is currently 44 points behind Hamilton. No driver so far behind the Englishman could catch up with him.
Qualifying, Nürburgring
1. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Mercedes, 1:25 269 min
2. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, +0.256 seconds
3. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, +0.293
4. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, +0.766
5. Alex Albon (T), Red Bull Racing, +0.778
6. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), Renault, +0.954
7. Esteban Ocon (F), Renault, +0.973
8. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, +1,189
9. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Racing Point, +1,435
10. Carlos Sainz (E), McLaren, +1,440
11. Sebastian Vettel (D), Ferrari, +1,469
12. Pierre Gasly (F), AlphaTauri, +1.507
13. Daniil Kvyat (RUS), AlphaTauri, +1 579
14. Antonio Giovinazzi (I), Alfa Romeo, +1,667
15. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, +1,856
16. Romain Grosjean (F), Haas, +2 283
17. George Russell (GB), Williams, +2 295
18. Nicholas Latifi (CDN), Williams, +2,543
19. Kimi Räikkönen (FIN), Alfa Romeo, +2,548
20. Nico Hülkenberg (R), Racing Point, +2,752
Drivers from the World Championship stand after 10 out of 17 races
1. Hamilton 205 points
2. Bottas 161
3. Verstappen 128
4. Norris 65
5. Albon 64
6. Ricciardo 63
7. Leclerc 57
8. Walk 57
9. Pérez 56
10. Gasly 45
11. Sainz 41
12. Ocon 36
13. Vettel 17
14. Kvyat 14
15. Nico Hülkenberg (D) 6
16. Raikkonen 2
17. Giovinazzi 2
18. Magnussen 1
19. Latifi 0
20. Russell 0
21. Grosjean 0
Trademarks
1. Mercedes 366
2. Red Bull Racing 192
3. McLaren 106
4. Racing Point 104
5. Renault 99
6. Ferrari 74
7. AlphaTauri 59
8. Alfa Romeo 4
9. Haas 1
10. Williams 0
