Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes

[thegreenhell]

honda_exige said:

Nope, no precedent in any sport that I'm aware of.

Closest was Kimi and Ferrari but he was in contract and they paid him to not race in F1.

Yes, Kimi was the highest paid WRC driver that year

[Muzzer79]

105.4 said:

honda_exige said:

Nope, no precedent in any sport that I'm aware of.

Closest was Kimi and Ferrari but he was in contract and they paid him to not race in F1.

Prost after he left Ferrari in 1991?

Or was that more a case of all other seats were taken? Apologies if I’m wrong, but I can’t be bothered to dig out my back catalogue of Autosports to find out.

Prost was indeed paid not to drive for Ferrari in 1991.

He was then paid again not to drive for Williams in 1994 IINM.

[kiseca]

105.4 said:

honda_exige said:

Nope, no precedent in any sport that I'm aware of.

Closest was Kimi and Ferrari but he was in contract and they paid him to not race in F1.

Prost after he left Ferrari in 1991?

Or was that more a case of all other seats were taken? Apologies if I’m wrong, but I can’t be bothered to dig out my back catalogue of Autosports to find out.

Prost tested for Ligier (was apparently 1.5 seconds a lap faster than Boutsen) but chose to wait a year for the Williams seat to open up.

EDIT: That's for the 1992 season, his sabbatical year. He may well have been bought out of his contract by Ferrari, but I believe if was available to drive for another team if any had a seat he was interested in.

Also, when Prost was fired from Renault (is there a more fired world champion in Formula 1?) he was paid for 1984 by Renault too, effectively. John Hogan knew this, and knew that, with it being so late in the year Prost didn't have many options, so they got him in McLaren for a song because of that.

Edited by kiseca on Tuesday 8th June 15:57

[Smollet]

[kiseca]

Smollet said:

[Stan the Bat]

kiseca said:

Smollet said:

You beauty.

[Cold]

Wolf finally admits the Monaco pit stop cock-up wasn't the fault of Bottas.

Wolf said:

It was probably my mistake. When I analysed the pit stop I said he went a few centimetres too far, without really identifying that as a mistake.
Valtteri actually turned out to be very precise with the pit stop. He made no mistake in that whole thing, it was our problem.

[Durzel]

Joey Deacon said:

wiliferus said:

I’ll probably get shot down for this. But to me, VB is to LH what Berger was to Senna.

A reliable, fairly solid if not unremarkable F1 driver. Seemingly happy to play second fiddle to the No1 driver.
VB is unlikely to ever be F1 World Champion.
He just seems to lack the animal instinct and sparkle of a potential champion. As said above, he never seems to make progress. He lacks the fight and ability to push on during a race.

I’d find it unbelievable if Merc aren’t considering their options for 2022.

100% agree, and as I said earlier in this thread (and was shot down) this was all well and good all the time Mercedes had the best car and Lewis was easily winning the title.

Now we have a situation where Red Bull are the equal of Mercedes and both Max and Sergio are all over Lewis. As we saw yesterday, one bad pitstop and Lewis is down to third with Sergio being impossible to pass and Max heading off into the distance. Mercedes need their other driver at the front to stop Red Bull doing this, it's no good him driving around in tenth place.

In a head to head between Valtteri and Max or Sergio who would you put your money on?

I would like to think that George has been told the drive is his next year and part of the issue at the moment is Valtteri knows he and F1 are pretty much done.

Good analysis both.

I think there's an above average chance Bottas will be replaced next season, certainly if things carry on the way they are.

People suggesting Mercedes are going to dump him mid season have been watching too much reality TV I think.

[Gazzab]

Durzel said:

Good analysis both.

I think there's an above average chance Bottas will be replaced next season, certainly if things carry on the way they are.

People suggesting Mercedes are going to dump him mid season have been watching too much reality TV I think.

I haven’t watched reality TV. Which programmes would convince me bottas will be dumped mid season?

[Durzel]

Gazzab said:

Durzel said:

Good analysis both.

I think there's an above average chance Bottas will be replaced next season, certainly if things carry on the way they are.

People suggesting Mercedes are going to dump him mid season have been watching too much reality TV I think.

I haven’t watched reality TV. Which programmes would convince me bottas will be dumped mid season?

It was more a commentary on people yearning for manufactured drama in the wrong places. He's not going to be replaced mid season.

[Jasandjules]

Gazzab said:

I haven’t watched reality TV. Which programmes would convince me bottas will be dumped mid season?

I don't think there is a chance he will be out mid-season. Toto does not seem to be that kind of person.

However I also don't think there is any chance he will be in the Merc next season.

[Muzzer79]

Joe Saward (a well-connected man) hinting at George getting the Mercedes seat at the British GP.

Joe Saward said:

For the moment it looks like Lewis Hamilton will be a back, probably for another one-year contract in 2022 and it is a matter of public speculation about who will take the other Mercedes. I get the feeling that there could be wild celebrations during the British GP weekend.

[honda_exige]

Muzzer79 said:

Joe Saward (a well-connected man) hinting at George getting the Mercedes seat at the British GP.

Joe Saward said:

For the moment it looks like Lewis Hamilton will be a back, probably for another one-year contract in 2022 and it is a matter of public speculation about who will take the other Mercedes. I get the feeling that there could be wild celebrations during the British GP weekend.

Or possibly just announced for 2022 at the British Grand Prix?

Much as I want it to happen I would be astounded if they ditched him mid season. Just can't see it

Also where did he say this? Not on twitter I don't think?

Edited by honda_exige on Friday 11th June 13:51

[Gazzab]

Jasandjules said:

Gazzab said:

I haven’t watched reality TV. Which programmes would convince me bottas will be dumped mid season?

I don't think there is a chance he will be out mid-season. Toto does not seem to be that kind of person.

However I also don't think there is any chance he will be in the Merc next season.

I am not suggesting he will be. I just don’t know what tv programmes would suggest otherwise.

[thegreenhell]

honda_exige said:

Muzzer79 said:

Joe Saward (a well-connected man) hinting at George getting the Mercedes seat at the British GP.

Joe Saward said:

For the moment it looks like Lewis Hamilton will be a back, probably for another one-year contract in 2022 and it is a matter of public speculation about who will take the other Mercedes. I get the feeling that there could be wild celebrations during the British GP weekend.

Or possibly just announced for 2022 at the British Grand Prix?

Much as I want it to happen I would be astounded if they ditched him mid season. Just can't see it

Also where did he say this? Not on twitter I don't think?

Edited by honda_exige on Friday 11th June 13:51

I'm sure he just means the announcement for 2022, not an immediate swap.

He wrote that on his blog.

[ajprice]

thegreenhell said:

honda_exige said:

Muzzer79 said:

Joe Saward (a well-connected man) hinting at George getting the Mercedes seat at the British GP.

Joe Saward said:

For the moment it looks like Lewis Hamilton will be a back, probably for another one-year contract in 2022 and it is a matter of public speculation about who will take the other Mercedes. I get the feeling that there could be wild celebrations during the British GP weekend.

Or possibly just announced for 2022 at the British Grand Prix?

Much as I want it to happen I would be astounded if they ditched him mid season. Just can't see it

Also where did he say this? Not on twitter I don't think?

Edited by honda_exige on Friday 11th June 13:51

I'm sure he just means the announcement for 2022, not an immediate swap.

He wrote that on his blog.

The way I read that quote is as announcing the move for 2022 too.

[Muzzer79]

honda_exige said:

Muzzer79 said:

Joe Saward (a well-connected man) hinting at George getting the Mercedes seat at the British GP.

Joe Saward said:

For the moment it looks like Lewis Hamilton will be a back, probably for another one-year contract in 2022 and it is a matter of public speculation about who will take the other Mercedes. I get the feeling that there could be wild celebrations during the British GP weekend.

Or possibly just announced for 2022 at the British Grand Prix?

Much as I want it to happen I would be astounded if they ditched him mid season. Just can't see it

Also where did he say this? Not on twitter I don't think?

Edited by honda_exige on Friday 11th June 13:51

Perhaps I should have worded better.

It's a hint that George will be announced for 2022 at the British GP. No suggestion Bottas will be replaced mid-season.

[SturdyHSV]

Jasandjules said:

I don't think there is a chance he will be out mid-season. Toto does not seem to be that kind of person.

Oh yeah Toto is all kittens and rainbows

He is an intelligent individual and a successful businessman. If he thought the team would stand a better chance of winning this year with George instead of Valterri, Bottas would be out of the door at a higher speed than he was achieveing at the end of the main straight at Baku.

Wolff will just make an informed decision taking in to account things like time for George to get up to speed, disruption to the team, levels of competitiveness, actual risk of coming second to RB, impact to other team member morale to see Bottas unceremoniously dumped etc.

I don't imagine the decision would be made soon, as they are still within range of RB with the awkward for Mercedes tracks out of the way. If the gap in the constructor's continues to widen, Bottas had best start getting reacquainted with the Williams garage

[HustleRussell]

George does not fit well in the tub.

I am quite sure the 2022 car will be designed to accommodate his height and his race boot size properly.

[DanielSan]

It's fair to say Bottas out next year is becoming the worst kept secret in F1. There were rumours that he was told before Imola he wasn't going to be retained.