Home

F1

Mercedes Won’t Sacrifice Valtteri Bottas for Lewis Hamilton When the Season Begins : Toto Wolff

Published 06/15/2020, 5:19 AM EDT

Follow Us

via Imago

Anyone who has been watching F1, especially the Mercedes F1 team, couldn’t have possibly thought that they don’t have a clear hierarchy among their drivers. It seems pretty obvious that Lewis Hamilton is the de facto ‘number 1’ and that Valtteri Bottas is his second violin. However, Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff begs to differ, claiming that neither driver gets preferential treatment. At least not until the season gets underway.

Toto Wolff claims that Mercedes don’t begin the season with a clear ‘number 1’ or ‘number 2’

via Imago

Osterreich newspaper, interviewed the Mercedes boss, Toto Wolff. Addressing claims that Mercedes have a clear hierarchy in mind, Wolff said, “Bottas and Hamilton get fair chances from us, as always, at the beginning of the season. Our drivers should both be able to become champions and I can’t imagine starting with a clear number 1 and 2. Drivers always have the ambition to win, otherwise, they won’t be in Formula 1.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Article continues below this ad

It is expected for someone in Wolff’s position, to tell us that both drivers get the backing to win the championship. However, it is hard to imagine Bottas beating Hamilton to the title and gaining the status of  ‘number 1′ at Mercedes. In fact, Bottas’ very future at Mercedes is unclear despite impressive performances from the Finn, last season. Nevertheless, Bottas will be happy to hear that the team has the belief in him to win a championship. Hopefully, that can spur him on to push Hamilton even more, although that could lead to a ‘Ferrari like situation.’

Trending

Get instantly notified of the hottest F1 stories via Google! Click on Follow Us and Tap the Blue Star.

Follow Us

The Finn will want to keep hold of his Mercedes seat even after 2020. Bottas will be looking to add to the 7 wins he has recorded, behind the steering wheel of a Mercedes. He had his best season last year, racking up a total of 326 points. He won 4 races and was on the podium 15 times. He’ll be looking to build on that and ensure his seat at the Silver Arrows for another year at least.

As for Hamilton, he’ll want to continue dominating the grid. He will be looking to get his 7th drivers’ championship and equal Michael Schumacher’s record.

 

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :

Written by:

Ronan Carvalho

1,063Articles

One take at a time

Ronan Carvalho is senior F1 author for Essentiallysports. Ronan is currently pursuing his Journalism degree from St. Xavier's College.
Show More>