"Russell can and will take his seat if he doesn't prove himself"
- GPblog.com
In the shortened F1 season of 2020 there were both surprising winners and surprising losers. Valtteri Bottas once again failed to make a strong impression in his fourth season at Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton. F1 journalist Will Buxton sees that the Finn is on the edge.
Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez both won an F1 race and came out as surprising winners in 2020. Ferrari, on the other hand, with luck and Charles Leclerc's exceptional performance, was only able to take a few podiums. This made the raceteam the surprising loser of the season.
Another loser of the season was Bottas, who lost 124 points to his teammate and was only nine points ahead of Max Verstappen in his Red Bull Racing car. The Finn was disappointing. This is what Buxton on Formula1.com calls the setbacks of 2020: "Ferrari, Valtteri and Lance.
Ferrari, Bottas and Stroll under par in 2020
Buxton sees great organizational chaos at Ferrari and believes that in 2021 the Italian race stable should show that it is all heading in the same direction if they want to return to the top. The Brit writes about Bottas:
"Valtteri may need a version 4.0 for 2021 after failing to mount the consistent challenge that it will take to depose Hamilton. He now also has no doubt that George Russell can and will take his seat if he doesn’t prove himself."
Buxton is brief about Lance Stroll: "And Lance Stroll has to do better. He had a good start to the year but let it all dissolve at the end."