Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff spoke about the future of Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes. Valteri’s current contract with Williams George Russell, a Mercedes junior who also has a place in the Silver Arrows in mind, expires at the end of the 2021 season. Russell is eagerly anticipated to get a full-time Mercedes seat after making his phenomenal debut at the 2020 Shakir Grand Prix. The Mercedes junior suffered a slow tire damage towards the end of the race that forced him to make a pit stop that ruined his chances of his first ever F1 podium and finished the race in P9. However, Toto Wolff insisted that the Finn’s terrible weekend will have no impact on the team’s decision on the 2022 driver line-up.
At the Hungarian GP, Valtteri Bottas lost control of his brakes at Turn 1 and hit McLaren’s Lando Norris in the back of his car. What started with Bottas losing control of his brakes turned into a chain reaction that led to a massive accident that involved nearly seven cars from five different teams. Bottas’ teammate and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton narrowly escaped the fall and took over the lead of the race. The Hungarian GP winner Esteban Ocon from Alpine followed by Aston Martins Sebastian Vettel saw this as an opportunity and easily overtook the top field. Esteban Ocon won his first race in Formula 1 with his teammate Fernando Alonso, who showed sheer defense against Hamilton. Formula 1 veteran Alonso was able to keep him 10 laps in a row before overtaking him on lap 57. World Champion Lewis Hamilton finished the race in P3 before being promoted to P2 after Sebastian Vettel was disqualified.
The crash was unfortunate and had greater consequences for Valtteri, says Bottas.
Totto Wolff said of his conversion on the official Formula 1 website: “Valtteri’s mistake was unfortunate with major consequences. He got pinched by the two cars in front, lost all downforce and then it was too late and that didn’t affect the decision at all. ”After Lewis Hamilton’s contract was secured for the next two years, Toto expressed that one Race won’t affect anything. However, Mercedes has a lead of 12 points over Red Bull in the 2021 drivers’ standings after the end of the race. Redbull, on the other hand, only managed to get one point with Max Verstappen in P10.
(Formula One)
