Wolff Reveals He’s Had “Difficult” Discussion with Bottas

After the British GP, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton trails championship leader Max Verstappen by just 8 points. Lewis’ teammate Valtteri Bottas is currently fourth and 69 points adrift of Hamilton. With 13 races to go, Bottas can mathematically still fight for the title but team principal Toto Wolff feels otherwise from a realistic stand point

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0:00 - The 2021 Championship And Mercedes’ Difficult Discussion With Bottas
1:59 - Fast Feed

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The 2021 Championship And Mercedes’ Difficult Discussion With Bottas

Wolff began by explaining how Bottas had a brilliant weekend at Silverstone as quoted by F1’s official website

“He had a brilliant weekend in my opinion because he could have been on pole if he would have had a tow on Friday night, and that was obviously impacting his performance. If you’re on pole it’s much easier”

He then pointed out how while Bottas was quick, Lewis was faster on the hard tyres during their final stints in the race

“He was very quick [during the race], he drove a really solid race and Lewis, coming from behind on that hard, was just in another dimension to everyone else on track”

He then praised Bottas for his team spirit while pointing out that he was the second fastest car in Silverstone that day

“Valtteri was the second-quickest car out there and helped Lewis to secure the way, and Valtteri’s just a great team member and great driver with the right character and personality”

He confirmed that they have already had discussions about Bottas’ role in the championship fight

“It is very important because, statistically, his odds to win the championship are very small compared to Lewis, who is very much in the fight. And we have discussed that, and as difficult as it is for a driver, there is no room for margin here in this year’s championship”

He signed off by addressing rumors that Bottas will leave Mercedes at the end of this year as quoted by Ilta-Sanomat

“If there is a situation where we want to give someone else a chance, it's not just about my relationship with him. It is my duty to give him a great future because he deserves it. He has been a teammate of the best F1 driver in history, and it is not always easy to shine in it. But he has been fantastic”
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Retired F1 driver Ralf Schumacher feels that Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel is “entitled to [other activities outside racing] too. But the most important thing should be to have your team-mates under control” [RTL]

“Last year Sergio Pérez was always two or three tenths faster than [Lance] Stroll. It should be easy for Sebastian that he is consistently faster than Stroll”, Ralf added

He also revealed that he has heard there are “many internal problems [at Aston Martin]. Some engineers are disappointed that other people are being brought in and at some point [team owner, Lawrence] Stroll will question the project and leave”

“Come on, we’ve got to wake up and do something”, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen said to his team via team radio

Following the race he clarified he’d “much rather fight for the position. Finishing 11th or 12th doesn’t really help us”, Kimi added [Motorsport]

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo is “definitely happy on paper, or happier, with the first top five of the year” [Motorsport]

He added that “It's still definitely at times frustrating but [he’s] probably past the point of being frustrated”

He thinks “now it's kind of a reality that [he’s] still needing to find some more and just be at one with the car. That's probably the best way to put it”

His team principal Andreas Seidl is “very happy with the progress Daniel made” [F1]

“A really good step forward in qualifying on Friday and then managed to pull off some good races which is great to see. Looking forward now to Hungary”, he added

“There’s still things obviously to improve to match Lando, but the important thing is he’s making steps, feeling more comfortable in the car in both quali and the race and it was a big step forward compared to previous races which was good”, Seidl surmised

FIA race director Michael Masi has suggested that “as a regulator, you’re always going to come out like any referee in any sporting competition so there’s always going to be an element of it” [F1]

“But whatever sniping is happening between Mercedes and Red Bull behind closed doors is not of concern to [them. They] judge it on what happens out there on the sporting field or on the track”

“Everyone is looking after their own patches of turf so to speak, as you’d expect but [he treats] them all equally”, Masi concluded

Williams CEO Jost Capito thinks that “at the moment [they] do not exclude any driver who would be available for next year. Nico [Hulkenberg] is available for next year. So, [they’ve] got quite a long list” [the Race]
Would Nico Hulkenberg be a good fit at Williams?

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