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Valtteri Bottas has the hottest seat in Formula One

Valtteri Bottas in his Williams team kit before joining Mercedes in 2016. (GEPA pictures/Red Bull Content Pool)
Expert
13th February, 2017
3

There is no skipping around the fact Mercedes dominated the 2016 F1 season.

However, with Nico Rosberg retiring and the dominating Lewis Hamilton hanging around, along with other teams snapping at their heels in the development stakes, it remains to be seen if they can do so again.

Replacing Rosberg for the 2017 season will be Valtteri Bottas, who is almost certainly the most under pressure driver in the field.

It’s not that his results have been bad in previous seasons, or he is a poor driver, or that it was a controversial decision by Mercedes to sign him, it’s just that driving for the top team in the business, alongside a driver who doesn’t have the best reputation as a teammate, leaves him staring at a tough year ahead.

There is no questioning the talent of Bottas, who is one of the most talented drivers in the field, but making the leap from Williams, where he drove alongside Felipe Massa to driving alongside Lewis Hamilton – who knows where it will take his career.

Bottas finished eight in last year’s championship, and while it wasn’t below expectations, he didn’t overachieve, and that’s something he will be expected to do driving for the top team.

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Nico Rosberg is not an easy drive to fill. Replacing any defending champion is never an easy thing to do, but Lewis Hamilton has gone through five teammates in his F1 career and has his own father proclaiming the move could well destroy the career of the 27-year-old Finnish driver.

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Anthony Hamilton, who has managed Lewis for parts of his career essentially said Lewis ends careers of his teammates, because all he is focused on is winning. Nothing else enters his mind, and that’s obvious looking at a resume which includes three championships, 53 wins and 104 podium finishes.

Hamilton is one of the most successful drivers to ever get behind the wheel of an F1 car and it’s the ruthlesness that has got him to his current position – not looking after teammates, no matter their experience level and working out what’s best for them.

“Anybody who goes up against Lewis needs to have planned their career correctly because it could be a career-ending move,” Hamilton said.

“He can be a career killer. Lewis kills drivers.”

“I personally think, while he’s getting older and more mature, he’s still actually heading towards the prime of his career, so Lewis is going to be a force to be reckoned with this year. Lewis only ever thinks about winning.”

Valtteri Bottas

Bottas did fire back saying if there was anyone he wouldn’t want on his team it would be himself, but having a war of words with your teammate – one of the best in the field before the season has even started doesn’t seem to be the best approach.

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While Hamilton has his impressive record, Bottas in 77 races across a phase of four years has never won a race, never had pole position and only been on the podium nine times.

Even though the experience difference between the pair is quite large, it’s going to count for nothing when Bottas gets behind the wheel of the best team on the circuit.

Not only will Hamilton continue his ruthless ways as the team’s no.1 driver, Bottas will be expected from within to somehow keep up with Hamilton, will have added media pressure on him and have his own personal worries if he is to fall behind Hamitlon in the championship picture early.

This is particularly true, given the rapid improvement Nico Rosberg saw in the last three years of his Mercedes drive – that was when they became the best in the business, and so there will be no warming up periods for Bottas. He is expected to be at the top from the get go.

If Bottas can’t find a way to live up to the expectation, then the pressure is going to grow on him throughout the season and unless Hamilton’s results fall away as well, he will be left exposed on the track.

In saying that, there is no pressure – expect from within – to beat Hamilton as such. He is going to be expected to be on a competitive level with Hamilton, who was frustrated to not win the drivers championship last year.

It’s a career-defining move from Bottas whichever way you look at it. To put it in simple terms, he either starts winning with Mercedes or might find himself out of a drive in the next couple of seasons.

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Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde

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