[ 2020 ] AMG Mercedes F1 Team - Mercedes

[Big Tea]

You know, I really hope it does not happen, but if Hamilton has to miss a week and another driver is brought in, some people will have a shock how good Bottas is when there is a comparison other than Hamilton. He out-qualified Massa 17–4 in the same car. It is easy, especially for those who were not watching at the time, to dismiss Massa, but he was almost world champion and no bum.

[Sieper]

Massa this, massa that. Massa in the Williams was not much of anything. He isn’t in FE Either.

Bottas can be quite quick in qualy. Decent race pace. Not special when it comes to race craft.
Hamilton can be astounding in qualy, can fly on pace, knows exactly what he is doing with race craft.

What I think is funny, and at the same time tiring, is one day Bottas is good, the other day he is Bad, and all just what is fitting to the line of thought that is being supported.

Why can’t we just be real. Just say what you really think of him deep down, not what is fitting to the story line that is being sold.

[El Scorchio]

This ‘lapdog’ stuff is silly if it’s a way to try and downplay Hamilton’s achievements. Especially if we’re comparing Hamilton to Schumacher- the man with the ultimate revolving door of ‘lapdog’ teammates throughout most of his career.

In addition when was the last time the guy in the best car DIDN’T win a WDC? There seems to be some romantic notion that pre 2013 there were Cinderella stories going on all over the place. Arguably it was 2008, but before that you’ve got to go a long way back.

No matter the driver you need a very good car to win championships. That’s something every champion has in common, including Schumacher, Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Prost and so on.

[Just_a_fan]

In addition when was the last time the guy in the best car DIDN’T win a WDC? There seems to be some romantic notion that pre 2013 there were Cinderella stories going on all over the place. Arguably it was 2008, but before that you’ve got to go a long way back.

2007 and 2008. The McLaren was probably slightly the better car in 2007, the Ferrari the better car, again slightly, in 2008. Kimi won in 2007 because McLaren dropped the ball. Hamilton won in 2008 because Ferrari did likewise. In both years the cars were closely matched with the marginally better car ending up second.

[Wass85]

Massa this, massa that. Massa in the Williams was not much of anything. He isn’t in FE Either.

Bottas can be quite quick in qualy. Decent race pace. Not special when it comes to race craft.
Hamilton can be astounding in qualy, can fly on pace, knows exactly what he is doing with race craft.

What I think is funny, and at the same time tiring, is one day Bottas is good, the other day he is Bad, and all just what is fitting to the line of thought that is being supported.

Why can’t we just be real. Just say what you really think of him deep down, not what is fitting to the story line that is being sold.

Bottas is a good driver but no on par with great drivers such as Hamilton, Alonso, Verstappen, Leclerc, Ricciardo, Vettel.

[Big Tea]

Massa this, massa that. Massa in the Williams was not much of anything. He isn’t in FE Either.

Bottas can be quite quick in qualy. Decent race pace. Not special when it comes to race craft.
Hamilton can be astounding in qualy, can fly on pace, knows exactly what he is doing with race craft.

What I think is funny, and at the same time tiring, is one day Bottas is good, the other day he is Bad, and all just what is fitting to the line of thought that is being supported.

Why can’t we just be real. Just say what you really think of him deep down, not what is fitting to the story line that is being sold.

OK, deep down, when Merc were looking for a second driver, I said Go for Bottas. And I have not changed my mind.
Max is probably better than him, but I do not think anyone other than Lewis is sure to beat him over a year.
Besides how well he fits in the team while others would bring strife.

[Wass85]

Massa this, massa that. Massa in the Williams was not much of anything. He isn’t in FE Either.

Bottas can be quite quick in qualy. Decent race pace. Not special when it comes to race craft.
Hamilton can be astounding in qualy, can fly on pace, knows exactly what he is doing with race craft.

What I think is funny, and at the same time tiring, is one day Bottas is good, the other day he is Bad, and all just what is fitting to the line of thought that is being supported.

Why can’t we just be real. Just say what you really think of him deep down, not what is fitting to the story line that is being sold.

OK, deep down, when Merc were looking for a second driver, I said Go for Bottas. And I have not changed my mind.
Max is probably better than him, but I do not think anyone other than Lewis is sure to beat him over a year.
Besides how well he fits in the team while others would bring strife.

Leclerc would beat him, so would Vettel, Ricciardo, Russell, all IMO.

[Big Tea]

Massa this, massa that. Massa in the Williams was not much of anything. He isn’t in FE Either.

Bottas can be quite quick in qualy. Decent race pace. Not special when it comes to race craft.
Hamilton can be astounding in qualy, can fly on pace, knows exactly what he is doing with race craft.

What I think is funny, and at the same time tiring, is one day Bottas is good, the other day he is Bad, and all just what is fitting to the line of thought that is being supported.

Why can’t we just be real. Just say what you really think of him deep down, not what is fitting to the story line that is being sold.

OK, deep down, when Merc were looking for a second driver, I said Go for Bottas. And I have not changed my mind.
Max is probably better than him, but I do not think anyone other than Lewis is sure to beat him over a year.
Besides how well he fits in the team while others would bring strife.

Leclerc would beat him, so would Vettel, Ricciardo, Russell, all IMO.

Leclerc I accept could go either way, the others, we have no way of knowing, but my feeling is no way. (in That team)

[Sieper]

I fully understand the decision to go for Bottas. They way I see it is as long as Hamilton will remain to perform as he does Mercedes will renew Bottas. They could maybe bring Russell in. But at this point, why. It would be great for Russell, maybe as well for the casual onlooker (I expect a more tense interteam battle in that case) but would it help Mercedes score more points. Maybe, Russell would fight the competitors hard. But he would also want to fight for nr1 position after a season or so.

I wouldn’t chance anything until Hamilton is at least 8 fold WDC. That could be end 2021, is even very likely. Then see what al, parties want.

[Wynters]

As I understand it (and I could easily be wrong), keeping temperature up in the front Hard tyres seemed to be a big issue on Sunday. Is there someone who has onboard access who could tell us if the drivers used DAS under racing conditions? It seems an ideal scenario for it.

If they didn't, it strongly suggests that DAS is purely for use in preparation for (re)starts.

[Wass85]

OK, deep down, when Merc were looking for a second driver, I said Go for Bottas. And I have not changed my mind.
Max is probably better than him, but I do not think anyone other than Lewis is sure to beat him over a year.
Besides how well he fits in the team while others would bring strife.

Leclerc would beat him, so would Vettel, Ricciardo, Russell, all IMO.

Leclerc I accept could go either way, the others, we have no way of knowing, but my feeling is no way. (in That team)

Come on give over, no way could you look me in the eye seriously and say there's no way those drivers would beat Bottas at Mercedes.

[Big Tea]

Leclerc would beat him, so would Vettel, Ricciardo, Russell, all IMO.

Leclerc I accept could go either way, the others, we have no way of knowing, but my feeling is no way. (in That team)

Come on give over, no way could you look me in the eye seriously and say there's no way those drivers would beat Bottas at Mercedes.

If I could 'look you in the eye' and say it, I would lol. As there is no way to prove it, arguing it futile, but its my thoughts.

Russel in particular is an unknown. I think he will become a top driver, but he is not yet. He had good figures during his test at Merc, but it was a test, not a race and the car was set up ready for him and he did not need to squabble for track.

Danny, he is good on his day and seems like a nice guy, so should soon get the team on side, but nothing gets a driver support like getting constant points does. Where individual grit is concerned, he may beat Bottas, but over the year, no way (in the same car)

Vettel? no, he would win or DNF while Bottas piled up the points.

From those in F1 at the moment, if I had to pick a likely driver over the year to beat Bottas, Sainz. But I am unsure of that. Mind, Gasly is looking better all the time

[Wass85]

Leclerc I accept could go either way, the others, we have no way of knowing, but my feeling is no way. (in That team)

Come on give over, no way could you look me in the eye seriously and say there's no way those drivers would beat Bottas at Mercedes.

If I could 'look you in the eye' and say it, I would lol. As there is no way to prove it, arguing it futile, but its my thoughts.

Russel in particular is an unknown. I think he will become a top driver, but he is not yet. He had good figures during his test at Merc, but it was a test, not a race and the car was set up ready for him and he did not need to squabble for track.

Danny, he is good on his day and seems like a nice guy, so should soon get the team on side, but nothing gets a driver support like getting constant points does. Where individual grit is concerned, he may beat Bottas, but over the year, no way (in the same car)

Vettel? no, he would win or DNF while Bottas piled up the points.

From those in F1 at the moment, if I had to pick a likely driver over the year to beat Bottas, Sainz. But I am unsure of that. Mind, Gasly is looking better all the time

Exactly what has Bottas done to turn him in to this monster over a season?

His race pace and race craft are average, those mentioned would murder him over a season on Sunday's.

[El Scorchio]

Bottas has the right temperament. He's not hothead who will do anything rash or stupid to drop points and jeopardise the WCC. They know there's a strong chance that combo of drivers will finish 1-2 or 1-3 almost every race and importantly not crash into each other off the road. Verstappen, Ricciardo, Leclerc, Vettel all have history of crashing with team mates and costing the team points. Ricciardo arguably less so, though. Out of those I'd see him as by far the safest bet if they were picking from one and he's the one I'd like to see there if any, but realistically it looks like Bottas and then Russell which totally makes sense from a team perspective.

[Wass85]

I don't see all the fuss, obviously Mercedes prefer this setup rather than having two drivers who are equally fast and ruthless banging wheels every other race.

Had this happened in 2017 or 2018 there's a good chance they wouldn't have won the titles.