Valtteri Bottas can sleep peacefully. The 30-year-old Finn will continue to be a Mercedes driver next year. For the fourth time in a row, his contract was extended by one season. Never before did Bottas have to worry so little about his future. After the trembling game last year, when he was seriously questioned because of a dry spell in the middle of the season, this time it was agreed before the season actually started in March that a decision would be reached by June at the latest. Then the corona crisis intervened. “We have agreed to allow the first three to four races to take place,” reported Bottas. The rest was a matter of form, which is why he wasn’t too distracted. “The contract is practically a copy from last year. It was very easy to put my signature on it. “
There is a lot of talk of trust and continuity in the team’s official statement. “We are currently experiencing the strongest Valtteri that has ever existed, physically and mentally,” explains team boss Toto Wolff: “With his work on and off the track, he plays an important role in the performance of the entire team.” Bottas recalls that his limit has not yet been reached: “This is where I meet like-minded people at Mercedes. They are never satisfied with what they have achieved. “
Hamilton like a machine
In a way, Lewis Hamilton is one of the most ungrateful teammates in the field. The six-time world champion drives like a machine. And if he does make a few slip-ups like at the season opener in Austria, Bottas can be sure that he will hit back even more in the next races. This consistency almost broke Bottas in the first two years at Mercedes. After a season without a win in 2018, he spent an entire winter working on his weaknesses. “I looked at which corners Lewis is faster and why. How he deals with certain racing situations and what I do differently. The attitude with which he does his job. I only have this one career and didn’t want to have to ask myself again after one season what I should have done better. “
Bottas concluded that he was far less likely to perform at his best than Hamilton. “And I can only beat Lewis if I perform at my best.” The magic formula: “Convert negative thoughts into positive energy.” In this way, he dispels any anger that he was after the tire damage at Silverstone last Sunday and before this Sunday’s upcoming second race in England (3:10 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for Formula 1, on Sky and RTL) is already 30 points behind its stable rival. “That’s ticked. Silverstone is giving me another chance this week. “
Mercedes Technical Director James Allison never really understood the driver question anyway. “Why should we change a driver pairing that is so successful? Many teams would be jealous of our drivers. Every malfunction in this system only contains sources of error. ”Toto Wolff also speaks of the almost perfect mixture. “Valtteri is there on a bad day for Lewis. And on a good day, Lewis is unbeatable. The dynamics and the mood between the two are right. If you have two egomaniacs on the team, the team championship will be difficult, “he says:” That’s why the two are the best solution for us. “
Alonso never an option
Because of this, Fernando Alonso was never an option for Mercedes. And that’s why it would have been difficult to bring Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel together, even though they both get along well on a personal level. Two alpha animals in a cage have broken up quite a few team structures. In addition, with this constellation, Mercedes would have had to explain to his rough diamond George Russell why he had not got the place next to Hamilton. The performance of the 22-year-old Englishman at Williams suggests that a champion is growing up here. Russell made it into the second knockout round of qualifying three times in a row. It feels as good in a Williams as the pole position for Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton was also satisfied with the decision for Bottas: “Stability is always good. Valtteri does a very good job on the track, he drives me, he is a team player. ”Hamilton doesn’t have to fear a driver in the field, but he wants peace and quiet in the team. It works better with someone he knows than with someone who believes he has to go on a confrontational course with him. Nevertheless, the colleague’s contract extension could also have consequences for Hamilton. According to Bottas, the terms of the contract remained unchanged. From this it can be deduced that he will not make more money in 2021 than he does now. The zero round could also be a sign of the most expensive employee on the team. Hamilton is suddenly in no hurry to renew his contract.
The reasoning is interesting: “I feel that now is the wrong time to talk about my contract. So many people are losing their jobs in these difficult times. ”Despite his exceptional position, the 87-time Grand Prix winner does not have the best negotiating position. For him there is no alternative to Mercedes. And he knows that if he asked as much as before or more than before, it would not go over well with the public and at Daimler. The World Cup leader will not be able to sit out the problem. Corona and the associated economic crisis will accompany Mercedes until spring 2021.
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