Does Bottas still have the skills

Does Bottas still have the skills

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Discussion

Tazar

Original Poster:

538 posts

199 months

Sunday 22nd September
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There are some reports that Bottas has a signed Audi contract. Has the Sauber car hidden his talent by being awful?

Muzzer79

11,027 posts

194 months

Sunday 22nd September
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Yes

Likes Fast Cars

2,886 posts

172 months

Sunday 22nd September
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Nah, he is not the driver he used to be. Time for him to give it up.

Dingu

4,338 posts

37 months

Sunday 22nd September
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The sauber is a total POS in fairness.

DanielSan

19,166 posts

174 months

Sunday 22nd September
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The Sauber this year is crap, and that's unlikely to change next year. But for whatever reason the Audi project also is attracting drivers beyond the talking phase. So far their prep on the surface at least looks pretty half arsed given were 18 months away from them entering properly.

Bottas wants to stay on the grid and has no other options so a contract with Audi just seems more like convenience for both parties

rallycross

13,266 posts

244 months

Monday 23rd September
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Tazar said:
There are some reports that Bottas has a signed Audi contract. Has the Sauber car hidden his talent by being awful?
The only thing hidden is that he is very poor at overtaking and wheel to wheel combat but fast on a flying lap. Time to retire from F1 and do something else.


Edited by rallycross on Tuesday 24th September 07:26

TheDoggingFather

17,212 posts

213 months

Monday 23rd September
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Not the driver he once was, probably, however in a similar (but weirdly more antipodean} way to Danny Ric, he gives great value on Social media. I am sure this has not escaped the suits at Audi who look to add momentum to their attack on F1 from many fronts.

Time4another

263 posts

10 months

Tuesday 24th September
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Looks like they are wanting to stock up on experience.

StevieBee

13,542 posts

262 months

Tuesday 24th September
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I cannot recall a team being so anonymous over the course of a season. They're like Radio 3 - you know they're there but that's about it.

Which is why......

TheDoggingFather said:
he gives great value on Social media
Another driver in that seat and I fear they'd be invisible.

It's really difficult to say whether Bottas has it or not. He was no Rosberg but did keep Hamilton honest on more than a few occasions and I don't think you'd loose that edge but you do need the tools to work with and just don't think he's got those.

patmahe

5,854 posts

211 months

Friday 27th September
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To be honest I'm surprised Bottas isn't at least being mentioned in the running for the 2nd Red Bull seat, a proven, solid driver that wasn't a million miles off peak Lewis Hamilton, has to be a better bet than Perez, whether he is a better bet than Lawson remains to be seen.

And yes the Sauber is that bad this year that's it's masking both driver's abilities.

ChocolateFrog

28,559 posts

180 months

Friday 27th September
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He was always a middle ranking F1 driver.

Lower middle at that.

ThingsBehindTheSun

1,217 posts

38 months

Friday 27th September
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ChocolateFrog said:
He was always a middle ranking F1 driver.

Lower middle at that.
Ricciardo, Bottas, Magnussen, Perez are all journeyman F1 drivers who have somehow managed to stick around for a long time despite their lack of results.

The only option left to Bottas now is Sauber, you have got to think if they were going to sign him they would have announced it by now. I wonder if they are contemplating Ricciardo, Colapinto or even Gabriel Bortoleto now

spikyone

1,603 posts

107 months

Friday 27th September
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patmahe said:
To be honest I'm surprised Bottas isn't at least being mentioned in the running for the 2nd Red Bull seat, a proven, solid driver that wasn't a million miles off peak Lewis Hamilton, has to be a better bet than Perez, whether he is a better bet than Lawson remains to be seen.

And yes the Sauber is that bad this year that's it's masking both driver's abilities.
He was washed up by '21 - his performances at Silverstone, Saudi, and Abu Dhabi in particular stand out as being really poor compared to what Lewis was achieving and what the car was capable of doing. Very much past any peaks that were close to Hamilton's level, and certainly no improvement on Perez. I reckon VB is even weaker mentally than Checo, he talked himself up a lot but you never felt like even he believed it.

Muzzer79

11,027 posts

194 months

Friday 27th September
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spikyone said:
patmahe said:
To be honest I'm surprised Bottas isn't at least being mentioned in the running for the 2nd Red Bull seat, a proven, solid driver that wasn't a million miles off peak Lewis Hamilton, has to be a better bet than Perez, whether he is a better bet than Lawson remains to be seen.

And yes the Sauber is that bad this year that's it's masking both driver's abilities.
He was washed up by '21 - his performances at Silverstone, Saudi, and Abu Dhabi in particular stand out as being really poor compared to what Lewis was achieving and what the car was capable of doing. Very much past any peaks that were close to Hamilton's level, and certainly no improvement on Perez. I reckon VB is even weaker mentally than Checo, he talked himself up a lot but you never felt like even he believed it.
You realise that you are comparing his performances to a 7 time world champion who is arguably one of, if not the, greatest of his generation?

And that in 2021, Bottas was on the podium in exactly half of the races?


spikyone

1,603 posts

107 months

Friday 27th September
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Muzzer79 said:
spikyone said:
patmahe said:
To be honest I'm surprised Bottas isn't at least being mentioned in the running for the 2nd Red Bull seat, a proven, solid driver that wasn't a million miles off peak Lewis Hamilton, has to be a better bet than Perez, whether he is a better bet than Lawson remains to be seen.

And yes the Sauber is that bad this year that's it's masking both driver's abilities.
He was washed up by '21 - his performances at Silverstone, Saudi, and Abu Dhabi in particular stand out as being really poor compared to what Lewis was achieving and what the car was capable of doing. Very much past any peaks that were close to Hamilton's level, and certainly no improvement on Perez. I reckon VB is even weaker mentally than Checo, he talked himself up a lot but you never felt like even he believed it.
You realise that you are comparing his performances to a 7 time world champion who is arguably one of, if not the, greatest of his generation?

And that in 2021, Bottas was on the podium in exactly half of the races?
Yes. And he was generally a long way off Hamilton's performance. As far off as Perez has been from Max this year.

In Saudi he was celebrating beating an Alpine to the line, when he should've been between Hamilton and Verstappen after Max's shenanigans and penalties - the celebration was frankly embarrassing.
In Abu Dhabi he was so far off the pace that whilst Checo helped Max, that was never on the cards for Mercedes. And at Silverstone he finished 3rd in the equal fastest car, despite Hamilton getting a penalty, Max not finishing, and Checo starting at the back. They were very poor performances.

TheDeuce

25,146 posts

73 months

Saturday 28th September
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Likes Fast Cars said:
Nah, he is not the driver he used to be. Time for him to give it up.
I'm pretty sure he's always been fast, has great precision but is st at actual racing. He hasn't changed!

He's also very experienced and I imagine great to work with, so is a pretty safe bet for a 'new' team looking to become competitive.

Apparently he's very popular in marketing terms too - I don't think we see half of what he's involved in, in the UK.