Just my opinion. He is second teir. Both red bull drivers are better as is Alonso and maybe on or two others. He is not bad but I just don't see consistency nor ruthlessness. I mean Hamilton is so sure of his no 1 status he pulled over for the guy. Bottas is willing to pull over and take team.calls as he proved at williams. He knows his place. That's not.to say he is not quick nor incapable. He is highly capable.but top car on crisis? Compete with Hamilton? Not for me.
I agree he cannot match Hamilton , but I think he is very good , but does not seem to have the ruthlessness , I suppose Iike him because he is fairly quiet & was a Williams Driver ( no logic in that I know ) . I will be interested to see how he gets on next year . Currently , I would compare him To Patrese . *** you are perfectly entitled to your opinion *** This board is so much more mature than others ....
By his own admission he is having a run of poor form. https://www.mercedesamgf1.com/en/me...-most-difficult-moment-of-my-career-valtteri/
Re Bottas: It really shows how little credit was given to Nico's performances against Lewis, who is likely to go down as statistically the greatest. I still believe honestly that Merc's philosophy is no different to that of the highly criticised Ferrari, in that they want the fastest possible driver who ultimately will not beat their lead driver. Onto today, that lap by Lewis was as close to perfection as I think we will ever see. Anybody who can claim that the Merc PU is not significantly stronger only need look at S3 and anybody who feels that they don't have the best aero/chassis combo look at S1. They may struggle to set it up, but that car is mechanical genius driven by raw speed in Lewis - it just has to be applauded.
I saw an interview he did with Will Buxton who asked why, since the summer break, he's dropped away. Bottas says it's because he can't get the car balanced to suit his style and using Lewis' just makes it worse. so obviously the updates, by chance or design, seem to have suited Lewis more.
Gone for Seb, he's within .5, the weather will change and the Merc seems a bit more susceptible to that than the others. That's what I'm hoping anyway.
Me to, I’m just hoping for a race - whoever wins. I think Merc will 1 stop because they are so good on the soft, I’d like to see Ferrari go aggressive with Seb and force the strategy - they’ve got nothing to lose.
I wrote a few weeks ago that I thought the number 2 drivers held the key to this years championship, but so far, for whatever reason, their performance has been pretty poor.
What Nico had was speed. There was absolutely no questioning that. I'd say he retired when he was just starting to become a proper racer though. He could have squeezed out another title somewhere.
You only have to look at Nico's reasons for quitting though, he didn't have the stomach for any more fighting for championships. As well as speed and racecraft you have to have the hunger too.
Maybe , just maybe , he is being honest ? He wanted to be Formula 1 world champion . He achieved that , and wans to do other things with his life ?
He's got kids, maybe he just wants to enjoy them, it's not long before they become arseholes, maybe he'll return then.
Oh, I'm not questioning his reasoning. I fully get why he's called it a day and I don't blame him. If I'd had the option to retire at his age and spend more time with my family, I'd have done it too.
Nico is a decent guy, he's a family man and he's done the right thing for him, no doubt about it, although he will always wonder, could I have done it again ? Lewis's form today was simply imperious, nobody I have ever seen has produced a lap like he did today, not even Senna who I still consider to be the Best ever, but Hammy is getting bloody close and will given time prove to be the Man.
Lewis is good at qualifying but I think the car and the quali mapping probably has a lot more to do with it. Let's credit the software developers!
