Is Bottas To Be Actually Blamed For His Mercedes Stance?

For how else is one supposed to put it?

On his part, Valtteri Bottas did encounter a dark phase in the team in that there never really came any amount of certainty whether or not he would get a multi year contract with the Mercedes team. That there could have been different results than what presently are showing against his name had he been given a new contract at Mercedes is something that Bottas feels strongly.

Not that his team principal Toto Wolff, known for his racing smarts and hard-as-nails leadership agrees. Maybe only fair to say, not one bit.

The following is what Wolff had to say on Bottas and the Finn’s recent statements, the Finn now Alfa Romeo-bound for 2022 onwards:

“I agree, pressure for a certain length of time is good and can get more out of you, but if you have pressure contractually for nine years of your Formula 1 career, year by year, it starts to eat you from inside, you know. I think Valtteri has been in a pressure cooker since the beginning of his single-seater career. Would a multi-year contract have been better? With hindsight, you can always have a different opinion. I still think he’s a great guy and a fast driver. But I also think spending years with Lewis can put a lot of pressure on him,” concluded Toto Wolff.

Having said the above, one’s compelled to think as to who is right among Toto Wolff and Valtteri Bottas.

While surely the two have their own beliefs and feelings about their stands, what they essentially are saying is a result of their emotions and feelings. What F1 functions on, ultimately, aren’t feelings or emotions but pure performances.

And where this year stands, then clearly, Valtteri Bottas just couldn’t come any good especially when one compares him to a certain LH 44, i.e., Sir Lewis Hamilton, clearly the best driver on the grid and statistically, the most successful man.

But then again, one is likely to struggle when put against the best driver on the grid. The result by this stretch of the argument even holds true for Hamilton himself. And how’s that? When confronted with Verstappen and arguably speaking, the driver with the faster car, not the diva as how many in Mercedes put it, Hamilton himself was found wanting.

Had it not been for the last few races that he won aligning supreme willpower to experience, Hamilton would not have been where he presently is- isn’t it? So by that narrative, how would one expect Valtteri Bottas to beat LH 44? This is when the Finn is still P3 on the Driver Standings and is still the only current driver besides Verstappen and Hamilton to cross the 200 point barrier.

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