Valtteri Bottas is many things; he is reliable, consistent, one that Lewis Hamilton probably calls ‘accidental’ Heikki more often than he should, an excellent Rubens Barrichello type number two, and a Finn which looks fitting in black. However, he is not a champion-caliber Formula One driver, and after almost four years of having his donkey handed over to him by F1 GOAT and teammate Lewis Hamilton, he could finally realize it for himself.
The Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday saw Bottas drop from second on the grid to fourth as a poor start overtook both Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Lance Stroll’s Racing Point. Bottas had the speed to come back through Stroll for third, but even on newer soft tires he could not close the gap for Max for second. Meanwhile, Hamilton dominated the race from the front, beating out the competition of lights to checkered flag, leading the entire GP and leading everyone to third. Barcelona is not exactly a great track for passing, so it is not an accusation by Bottas that he could not happen one. He’s still a great driver, but he’s not even close to the level that Hamilton is.
“Initial analysis is just a bad start,” Bottas says of his achievements in Spain. “I think the initial getaway of the line was not very good, and also my reaction time could have been a little better, so it just is not the perfect start if it was needed.
‘And on this track if the guys behind get a pull from you and if you do not get the tow and if your start is not better, you pay the price, that’s it. Disappointed at first, it is obviously far from ideal.
With his lack of points scoring during the British Grand Prix two weeks ago, a string of third-place points counted quite a few points for Bottas out of the championship, except Lewis has a particularly rough string of very bad luck. And even then, Bottas is probably not good enough to make up for the loss to Verstappen.
Bottas knows it’s bad. He looks to his championship hoping to ‘drift away’.
“I really have no idea what the difference in points is, but it’s too big. And I can see again that the championship is drifting away. So we’ll take a few days to look at everything, and see what went wrong. And again, keep going.
‘But at this point it’s obviously very disappointing, but yeah, I know I’ll always hit back, and without a doubt in Spa, as always I’ll be in full mental health, and give everything I have. But first I just want to be somewhere other than here right now. ”
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That points difference currently has Lewis with 132 points, Max in second with 95 points, and Bottas sits at 89 points. Bottas currently grabs an average of 15 points per Grand Prix, while Lewis’ average is 22 points. Hell, at this point Lewis was able to take a weekend off and still have the points lead in the championship. It’s not completely insurmountable, but I mean, come on.
‘At the moment I can not say. I had a good start in the first race, and the pace all season, every single race, the pace has been there. Qualifying has been super close to Lewis every time, sometimes he beats me, sometimes I beat him. These are small margins.
‘I do not know the reason why. There were a few shitty races for me in Silverstone, with bad luck. At this point, it is difficult to say. Maybe as time goes on I can say, first of all I have no answer.
“Apart from the first race, it has been pretty bad. There has not been a weekend that has gone smoothly and without issue, except for the first, so a pretty bad season so far. Of course, that is disappointing.
‘So yeah, nice to have a break. Hopefully we have a lot more races to go, maybe even up to 10 or so. I would hope so. So far, far from ideal. ”
Bottas has been with the Mercedes-AMG Patronas F1 team since the 2017 season, during which time he has won a respectable eight Grands Prix. In the same time frame, Lewis won thirty-five races in the same apparatus. Their points split in the seasons between 2017 and now? Bottas sits at 967 points as a Mercedes F1 racer. Since the start of the 2017 season, Lewis has scored 1,316 points.
Did Valtteri really think he had a chance at the championship in 2020? He knows who his teammate is, right?
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