CAN BOTTAS FINALLY BEAT HAMILTON IN F1 2021!

Will 2021 be the year Valtteri Bottas steps out of Lewis Hamilton’s shadow and prevails to F1 title glory?

Bottas has so far come up short against Hamilton in each of the four seasons they have spent together as teammates at Mercedes, but the Finn insists he is ready to turn the tables on the seven-time world champion and has promised to “go all out” in this year’s title race. 

2020 – Bottas once again lost the World title to Hamilton, second in the standings some 124 points behind his team-mate despite the Brit sitting out the Sakhir race.

Losing to Russell, who Wolff says had “nothing to lose” in his Mercedes debut, was just yet another difficult situation for Bottas to have to deal with.

Statistically, the 2020 season was the biggest defeat suffered by Valtteri Bottas at the hands of Lewis Hamilton in their four years together at Mercedes.

The 124-point margin was a crushing one, particularly considering the truncated, condensed 17-race season and the fact Hamilton missed the Sakhir Grand Prix thanks to COVID-19.

Though Bottas trailed Hamilton by 161 points in 2018, this was over a 21-race season. His 2020 deficit is 127 if you exclude the race Hamilton was sidelined for, and this translates to an average of 7.9 points lost per race – as opposed to 7.7 in 2018.

But while Bottas wasn’t up to putting together a genuine title challenge this year, the final margin exaggerated his deficit with more than his fair share of bad luck.

Valtteri Bottas has been subject to one of the most challenging environments at Mercedes. He drives alongside the champion of this era and although they drive the same car; it is hard for him to catch on. However, none has ever seen the Finn whining or fussing about it and Sir Lewis Hamilton applauds that.

Mercedes will be pleased to read that Lewis had a clear lead over the rest of the pilots in 2020. However, the 124 points buffer against Bottas would worry them a bit. The pattern suggests at Bottas being vulnerable to the other teams and that might choke the Mercedes dominance in the future.

Nonetheless, neither the team nor its principal appears bothered about Bottas’ season. On the contrary, they have defended their number 77.

Toto Wolff had earlier stated that it was an unlucky season for Valtteri. He had to encounter several unfortunate incidents that affected his performance. Thus there is no reason to be concerned about his future.

In addition to that, Lewis Hamilton earlier praised the mentality of his teammate. He highlighted that even after finishing behind him almost every weekend, Bottas never gets demoralized. He is back again the next weekend with that same vigor and determination to race.

“When I talk about people need to give Valtteri his due respect, I think you’ve got to remember who he’s driving up against; it’s not easy being my teammate, you know. But he comes in, weekend in weekend out, with the same mentality, he’s never moaning, complaining that something’s wrong with the car, it’s always ‘I’ve got to do a better job’, and I don’t know any driver that does that,” expressed Hamilton.

Valtteri Bottas could have definitely given up on his season after the Sakhir GP pit stop blunder. Yet, the Finn knew better. Coming back from that race and defeating Hamilton in a head-to-head battle requires nerves of steel. Bottas clearly made a statement that he would not give up at any cost.

Many pundits have already pointed out the pitiable state of Bottas at Mercedes. On the flip side, although the results may disappoint him, he will not find a better cockpit on the grid. Thus, his focus is challenging Hamilton no matter what.

Incidentally, he has been doing so as well. Over the past five years at Mercedes, he has improved by leaps and bounds. He would be the first one to agree that 2020 was not his best season with the team, but considerable progress was spotted and that becomes crucial for 2021.

“I think Valtteri… is getting stronger and stronger each year. You’ve seen this year, I think, whilst the points gap now is where it is, if you look at a lot of qualifying, it was the smallest of margins. So closing the gap in qualifying he has done already, which has made it quite challenging,” concluded Hamilton.

While Bottas will be desperate to impress the Mercedes hierarchy, he has reiterated time and time again that he will not resort to Rosberg’s tactics of engaging in a psychological battle in his attempts to beat Hamilton. Instead, he would rather focus on fine-tuning the strengths he already possesses, and improving other areas, to capitalise on any chinks in Hamilton’s seemingly impregnable armour. 

Off the back of his strongest campaign yet in F1, Bottas will head into 2021 extremely confident.. 

His mentor, Mikka Hakkinen, who knows a thing or two about winning world titles, believes Bottas is now at the peak of his powers. 

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