|
I don't think I will vote here yet. It is really hard to decide between these 2 and I don't think we've had enough time to fairly compare them. Give Bottas at least this season. Rosberg had been with Mercedes since 2010. And Hamilton came in 2013 and beat him instantly when Rosberg was with his 4th year with the team, although maybe not by that much. Then the following 2 years, although bad luck was heavily the reason, Rosberg was further behind Hamilton in the championship than Bottas was behind Hamilton in his first season. And when you factor in that Mercedes was no longer totally dominant, I think that will have taken a fair number of points off Bottas. This didn't happen to Rosberg 2014 - 2016. Qualifying does make a difference and the abount of times where Bottas was only a few hundredths of a second off the front row just shows how much easier Rosberg had it to vertically always make it onto the front row. And also therefore, making it easier in the race. I remember quite a few weekends where Hamilton or Rosberg would make a mistake in Q3 and still get 1-2. I remember a time where they both locked up in a wet session and ran off track and still had 1-2. Bottas just hasn't had this luck.
I can certainly agree that Rosberg has more aggression, which often does pay off. But to me I see almost as many disadvantages to being like this. At least the way Rosberg was. He's been in trouble I think several times over the last season, or at leased been partly responsible for a clash. Although there was no obvious driver to blame from the stewards verdict, I think that in Spain 2016, both Hamilton and Rosberg did something wrong. Hamilton was too optimistic and Rosberg was certainly was too aggressive. Bottas just doesn't seem to be like this and hasn't been deemed responsible for his or anyone else’s retirement in any race in his career. I can think of several occasions where Bottas lacks aggression, but lacking this doesn't make him loose out massively if that makes sense.
In Brazil last year, he could have defended Vettel better into the first corner. That was true. 2nd wasn't a terrible result but he just kept calm and didn't risk attempting an overtake. For all we know, from what sometimes happened, overtakes can end badly. Then in Bahrain this year, I can agree with what someone said on this thread, other drivers may have had more of a go than Bottas. But I do think Bottas looked to try but just ran out of time. Again, 2nd isn't that bad. Even in Spain, I agree that Bottas could have been a tiny bit more defensive towards Vettel. But he managed to do a fast enough 2 laps when Vettel had pitted that would have jumped him if his stop wasn't 1.4 seconds slower than vettel's. I think that given how good Bottas usually is at defending later in the race, he will likely have been able to manage to keep Vettel behind even if Vettel didn't pit again. There are loads of occations I can think of where Bottas has managed to keep faster cars behind him. Other than maybe into the first corner at the start, I have to say defending is a strong point for Bottas. Probably better than Rosberg here. At least does it in a much cleaner way. The other thing I can say about Bottas is that he just keeps out of trouble. It has been over 2 full years now since he last got any penalty points. And even in nearly 3 years, I think he's only had 2 at max if I am correct. No other driver has gone this long in terms of keeping out of trouble.
Now Mercedes are not as dominant as they were and Bottas seems to have upped his game this year by the look of it, I'm not sure Rosberg would be doing any better really. The tension between him and Hamilton made things worse to me. They both had moments that would affect the team really badly now compared to in their dominant era. Bottas and Hamilton just don't have these. They both show a lot of respect for each other. And after Baku, when I saw Hamilton's interview on Channel 4, the comments he made about Bottas were very interesting. He basically had realised that Bottas would have been ahead of him in the championship if he didn't have that puncture. And he clearly showed that he knew that Bottas was doing a pretty solid job (quite possibly better than him) and he hadn't quite done as well as he should. Again, I think Bottas is doing the job he needs to in this team by performing when his team mate isn't. in the last 3 races, Bottas will have got the best possible team result if it wasn't for misfortune in China and Baku. And if things had just gone slightly differently in Bahrain, he may have won rather than just being a fraction of a second behind the winner. I think that these results show he's doing enough for Mercedes like Rosberg did. In terms of who is a better driver, it is too close for me to decide. But I am leaning towards Bottas I think. Will wait and see.
So I do think Bottas could be better than he is. (a bit more agressive and possibly 1 lap pace). But I see plenty of benifits to being a catious driver especially if he doing his job in this team. He keeps out of trouble and gets the car home. Australia was the only bad weekend. But lets remember Hamilton basically did the same in Monaco last year. Failed to perform in qualifying on a track that is ridiculously hard to overtake on. If we forgive Hamilton, we should forgive Bottas. He's since turned around for sure.
So invade, If you are interested in someone making a case for why they may have votes Bottas, I may possible have some of the reasons. But as I said, I haven't voted yet, but may well go for Bottas at some point if he keeps up his performance this year. I think my reasoning is a fair way to show that some may think Bottas is better. It completely depends on how you mean by a better driver. As I said, I think Bottas may be the better driver for the team in the situation it is now in, but on the whole, I don't yet really know who I would say is better.
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
