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‘Wise’ Lewis Hamilton Would Push for Bottas as Mercedes Teammate in ’22

Published 05/12/2021, 8:15 AM EDT

So far in the 2021 Formula 1 season, Lewis Hamilton has been in top form. However, in the other Mercedes garage, Valtteri Bottas has struggled to keep up with the seven-time world champion. This has led to some questioning the Finn’s ability to challenge the British superstar.

Recently, some reports suggested that Mercedes could pull a Red Bull. To be precise, they could swap Bottas for George Russell in the middle of the season. Since then, the Finn, as well as Toto Wolff, have denied such rumors. Several others found the notion ridiculous, including former F1 driver and current pundit Paul di Resta, who believes Mercedes will not swap the drivers.

He said “I’m sure Lewis doesn’t want the foundations of that team to change because it’s won world championships, it’s won constructors championships, for a very good reason. And when you see the performance of Hamilton on a day like today, if you’ve got anything that’s going to doubt that, do you take that away?

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I think Lewis if he’s wise, will probably give Valtteri a lot of support, and show the team that he is a team player, absolutely a team player.”

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What else did he say about Valtteri Bottas?

Speaking after the Portuguese Grand Prix, di Resta stated that he believes Bottas is capable of fighting for the win. Although he finished third, he was able to pile the pressure on Verstappen. In addition to that, he also kept Lewis Hamilton honest for a while, and his single-lap pace is excellent.

The Finn was able to stick his car on the pole and even set the fastest lap at Bahrain and at Portimao. Di Resta acknowledged that Russell is an ambitious person and probably has a future in Mercedes. However, this does present a conundrum for team principal Toto Wolff.

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All said and done, Valtteri Bottas will be eager to prove himself to his critics. Although he has verbally refuted the claims that he will be replaced, he would rather prefer to do it on the race track.

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Written by:

Dhruv George is a senior Formula One and NASCAR analyst for EssentiallySports, having authored nearly 12000 articles spanning different sports like F1, NASCAR, Tennis, NFL, and eSports. He graduated with a PG Diploma in Journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications. Dhruv has also conducted interviews with F1 driver Pierre Gasly and Moto2 rider Tony Arbolino.

‘Wise’ Lewis Hamilton Would Push for Bottas as Mercedes Teammate in ’22

What else did he say about Valtteri Bottas?

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