Bottas retained for 2021 by Mercedes, thoughts?

[truefan72]

To me it means Russell joins the team in 2022 when Bottas moves back to a semi competitive Williams and Hamilton just enjoys the role as a maestro to Russell protege. Who knows where the Mercedes will be after the rule changes but for now they just want to ride out this era with the same pairing. But Russell will need a strong guarantee or contract in place for 2022 otherwise mercedes might lose a clear future World champ and incredible driver to someone else.

[Nitrodaze]

I think Bottas has done enough to warrant his 2021 extension. Mercedes is playing it safe as they have a driver good enough to win the championship if Hamilton have issues or secure second place otherwise. This implies they have a strong lineup.

That said, l think they can afford to take a small risk with Russell to give the youngster a chance to continue his development while learning from the six times worlds champion Hamilton. That would have brought them in line with Redbull, Ferrari and Mclaren's preparation of the next generation of racers, with the likes of Verstapenn, Leclerc, Norris and Russell joining the fore.

2022 is also a great entry point for Russell into the Peronas Mercedes drive. As it would give Mercedes the service of Bottas with Hamilton for the opportunity to help develop the car of the new GP1 era. They probably would not want to do this with a less experienced driver like Russell.

I personally think that Russell should abandon his Mercedes links if he does not get the Mercedes drive in 2022. Or his career would be put in serious risk by the up and coming stars from the F2 series. As it did for Werhlien and Ocon to some extent.

Lets face it, Mercedes have a crap junior programme. It has become a wasteland where young talent go to kill their prospects. None of their young drivers has made it out of the tailend of the grid while in the programme. Except ocon and his Force India drive which was the move that killed Werhliens F1 career. Ocon had to cut ties with Mercedes to get into Renault as no one would touch him while he was on the Mercedes programme. Werhlien's F1 career was completely destroyed. His clearly great talent is languishing in Formula E at such a young age.

[N. Jones]

They played it safe. I didn't think about what happens after 2021 but it will be interesting if George moves to Merc and Bottas moves back to Williams(?).

[Jag_Warrior]

It wasn't broken (actually working quite well), so no need to fix it.

Good for Bottas. Russell's time will come soon enough.

[journeyman racer]

I don't understand a certain entitlement that's there for Russell?

[Nitrodaze]

I don't understand a certain entitlement that's there for Russell?

Russel is a Mercedes junior. He is in the Mercedes programme with the promise to progress into a Mercedes senior seat as Leclerc has done at Ferrari and Verstapenn and Albon has done at RBR. His entitlement is given because he is the next generation of Mercedes pilot.

[gm99]

Russel is a Mercedes junior. He is in the Mercedes programme with the promise to progress into a Mercedes senior seat

Like Wehrlein and Ocon were?

[Nitrodaze]

Like Wehrlein and Ocon were?

True, the Mercedes Junior programme has yet to promote a junior into one of their Petronas Mercedes car. But Russell has the unique position of being in pole position for the next free seat in the senior team. He has competition from Ocon in a better [Renault] car than he has at the moment. But l think he is better than Ocon and Mercedes would see that if l can see that from my armchair.

[denkimi]

Like Wehrlein and Ocon were?
And vandoorne.

[airshifter]

Bottas is doing a better job the last season or so, he is just in a bad situation being paired (and thus compared) to Lewis. It's a similar situation to whoever is driving with Max right now. A couple seasons back, I would have said he was ready to be moved. But overall Bottas 2.0 is an improvement, and without Lewis or Max around he would probably be winning some races more often.

[pantealex]

Why would they take risk for 2022 ?

VB77 can be 2nd in every race if car is good enough (and win some when he has excellent day)

Why would they dump him ?

[The Black Knight]

I think where Bottas ends up very much depends on Hamilton. A year long extension signals to me that they may want to switch Russell over to partner Hamilton on 2022. I think Russell has proven his worth in the heap he is driving and deserves a chance at Mercedes. So if Hamilton stays, Bottas will be replaced I’d imagine- tough one to read for certain though.

[SteveF1]

Hello, I'm new here. My take on this is two fold

1: I can understand why Toto did it, they want their #1 driver to win with the other driver not causing issues, and it works so why change it?

2: Personally I was disappointed when I heard this. I'll be honest here, I am finding F1 very boring and utterly predicable in this hybrid era, with nobody even close to Mercedes. I feel that F1 would be far less boring (for us non Merc fans) if they had two top drivers. ie: Lewis-Charles, Lewis-Max or yes even Lewis-Fernando. with two drivers battling for the wins and title, the season would be in my opinion infinitely less dull. I mean no offence to Lewis but you know if he's in the lead on lap 1 corner 1. The race for the win is 99% over.

I watched the 1988 season where McLaren won all but one race and it wasn't boring at all because Senna and Prost were battling each other. Lewis and Bottas is no challenge, not even 1%.

[Bagwan]

Hello, I'm new here. My take on this is two fold

1: I can understand why Toto did it, they want their #1 driver to win with the other driver not causing issues, and it works so why change it?

2: Personally I was disappointed when I heard this. I'll be honest here, I am finding F1 very boring and utterly predicable in this hybrid era, with nobody even close to Mercedes. I feel that F1 would be far less boring (for us non Merc fans) if they had two top drivers. ie: Lewis-Charles, Lewis-Max or yes even Lewis-Fernando. with two drivers battling for the wins and title, the season would be in my opinion infinitely less dull. I mean no offence to Lewis but you know if he's in the lead on lap 1 corner 1. The race for the win is 99% over.

I watched the 1988 season where McLaren won all but one race and it wasn't boring at all because Senna and Prost were battling each other. Lewis and Bottas is no challenge, not even 1%.

Can't argue with that , Steve .
Welcome to the fray .

[journeyman racer]

2: Personally I was disappointed when I heard this. I'll be honest here, I am finding F1 very boring and utterly predicable in this hybrid era, with nobody even close to Mercedes. I feel that F1 would be far less boring (for us non Merc fans) if they had two top drivers. ie: Lewis-Charles, Lewis-Max or yes even Lewis-Fernando. with two drivers battling for the wins and title, the season would be in my opinion infinitely less dull. I mean no offence to Lewis but you know if he's in the lead on lap 1 corner 1. The race for the win is 99% over.

So if you were in charge of this Hamilton and/or Verstappen/Leclerc/Alonso super team, how would you deal with the construction and development of the car? Will you go down the road where it benefits one of the drivers, or will you compromise both by trying to get something suitable for both?

How will you deal with a scenario where in a series of races, one mostly benefits from pit strategies?

How do you watch the 88 season and be new to F1?

edit: Also, what would you do in your super team when the working relationship exposes a weakness of one or the other, and it shows up in the point total?

[SteveF1]

So if you were in charge of this Hamilton and/or Verstappen/Leclerc/Alonso super team, how would you deal with the construction and development of the car? Will you go down the road where it benefits one of the drivers, or will you compromise both by trying to get something suitable for both?

How will you deal with a scenario where in a series of races, one mostly benefits from pit strategies?

How do you watch the 88 season and be new to F1?

edit: Also, what would you do in your super team when the working relationship exposes a weakness of one or the other, and it shows up in the point total?

I'm not a team boss and never will be but I would try to compromise and develop something they can both deal with. Maybe if, by mid season one would be miles ahead in the points I would perhaps focus the car towards their needs.

When I said I was new, I meant to this forum, not to F1. I have been watching F1 since the days of Jochen Rindt.

[Bagwan]

I think he regrets his decision to re-sign now , because the black outfit is too hot .

[Tazio]

:stareup: Baggie!:rotflmao::stare::wave:

[Nitrodaze]

I think he regrets his decision to re-sign now , because the black outfit is too hot .

Bottas is not going to live that one down for a while l think. :D

[Nitrodaze]

So if you were in charge of this Hamilton and/or Verstappen/Leclerc/Alonso super team, how would you deal with the construction and development of the car? Will you go down the road where it benefits one of the drivers, or will you compromise both by trying to get something suitable for both?

How will you deal with a scenario where in a series of races, one mostly benefits from pit strategies?

How do you watch the 88 season and be new to F1?

edit: Also, what would you do in your super team when the working relationship exposes a weakness of one or the other, and it shows up in the point total?

Mercedes had that problem when Rosberg was in the team and they got the balance right. But there were noticeable occassions when aspects of the car favoured one driver over the other. But they were quick to redress the balance. Hence, l don't think this is an issue in Mercedes currently. And unlikely to be an issue in the futute if Toto is still at the helm.

[Storm]

Bottas is like a less talented and even more boring Rosberg.

[pantealex]

Bottas is like a less talented and even more boring Rosberg.

Keke was never boring ;)

[Nitrodaze]

Keke was never boring ;)

Nico was never boring either.

[The Black Knight]

Bottas is like a less talented and even more boring Rosberg.

I never thought Nico boring. I still rate him in the top 5 drivers of the last 20 years. I think F1 lost a massive talent when he decided to pack it in. He’s the only teammate Hamilton has had that could really take the fight to him, not to mention his pasting of an, albeit, much older Schumacher

[Storm]

Nico was never boring either.

well definitely not the year he won the title