It has been confirmed that Valtteri Bottas will be leaving Mercedes at the end this year to replace the retiring Kimi Raikkonen at Alfa Romeo for 2022. (Photo by ANDREJ ISAKOVIC / AFP)
The annual F1 musical chairs game is almost over with teams announcing their line-ups for the 2022 season.
At last we have answers to questions that have been a major topic on web pages for several months. For instance, we now know Valtteri Bottas will be leaving the team after five years of sterling service.
The Finn was a last minute recruitment from the Williams team at the end of 2016, after the shock retirement of newly crowned champion Nico Rosberg.
Bottas has proved to be a major asset for the Brackley based team. He rode shotgun against Sebastian Vettel in 2017 and 2018 and allowed team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take Drivers’ titles. In 2019 and 2020 he finished as runner-up to Hamilton and ensured the team continued to take the Constructors’ Championship.
Bottas will move to Alfa Romeo, replacing the retiring Kimi Raikkonen, and the Finn is apparently excited about his future. It was reported he knew of Mercedes’ decision before the Belgian Grand Prix and wanted to move to a team where he can become part of the future.
He was reported as saying: “It’s something new, something exciting, and it will be a bit of a project for me. No doubt there will be hard work to do, but I shall give all the expertise I can to help them try to improve from this season, for sure.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff sang the praises of Bottas saying: “Together with Lewis, he has built a benchmark partnership, and that has been a valuable weapon, helping us to achieve unprecedented success. He would absolutely have deserved to stay with the team, and when the time comes, he will leave us with huge goodwill from every single member of the team, as part of the Mercedes family.”
It is a strange way to announce his number two driver’s departure, almost sounding as though Bottas had an option to stay with the Brackley team.
Perhaps the Alfa Romeo deal will allow him to show his true ability, as he did last weekend at Monza, without the “requirement” of repeatedly moving over.
It was interesting to read George Russell’s comments regarding his move to Mercedes in 2022. In an interview just prior to the Italian Grand Prix he said he was: “Definitely going on level terms – that was made very clear to me.
“I think Mercedes are always respectful in that regard to give both drivers the best opportunity. Naturally, I believe in myself and I have high aspirations but equally, I just know how tough it’s going to be.”
There can be no doubt Russell is an extremely talented driver and deserves this promotion but “level terms” may be somewhat of an issue if you read the statements from Wolff during an interview with Sky Sports.
The Austrian was reported as saying: “He has proven that he deserves a seat in a top car and now we need to get him properly adjusted into the Mercedes situation. There’s a lot more pressure.”
Wolff continued: “He will have an unbelievable teammate with the biggest records. It is important we condition and calibrate him in the right way. We’ve seen situations in the past where they’ve failed.”
The incidents between Hamilton and his team mate Nico Rosberg between 2014 and 2016 must be in mind and a repeat would not be desirable. Hence the words “conditioning” and “calibrating”, not something I would normally associate with equality in a team.
Russell’s move left the way open for a young driver who still has a lot of talent and deserves an opportunity to prove it. William F1 have opened the door for Red Bull contracted Alex Albon, although not without difficulties.
It was the Grove team and Alfa Romeo who showed interest in Albon but the Anglo-Thai driver’s preference was for Williams. It all looked set until the weekend of the Dutch Grand Prix when Wolff stated he would have no issue with Albon driving for Williams next season, so long as he was “free” from his Red Bull contract.
It appears we have reached a situation where engine suppliers have an input on their customer choice of driver, a situation Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto believes is wrong. Binotto is quoted as saying: “I believe that whatever is happening between a team and a driver is between the team and the driver.
“As manufacturers, we should not influence – that would be wrong.” He went on: “If a driver has got an opportunity to drive he should simply have the opportunity to drive, wherever it is coming from. If the team is happy to give him a seat, they need to give him a seat. That’s it.”
Albon got the Williams seat with a contract preventing any possibility of divulging any confidential data regarding the Mercedes power unit with, specifically, Red Bull.
Fair enough I suppose, but I wonder if Bottas had to sign a similar contract when signing for Alfa Romeo, who, after all, utilise a power unit from a rival supplier?
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