'Thanks to Bottas, Mercedes can do its strategy'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing and Mercedes are battling it out for first place in the world championship this season. While Max Verstappen won the second race, Lewis Hamilton took the other three prizes. As a result, the Englishman is in the lead for now.
This weekend the criticism was again aimed at Sergio Pérez, who again failed to keep up with Verstappen. Although there is a lot of criticism about the performance of Valtteri Bottas, the Finnish driver managed to stay close to Hamilton. Partly because of that, Hamilton was able to go back home with a victory in Spain.
Ho-Pin Tung, a Chinese-Dutch driver, said on his Twitter page that Bottas is not at all doing as badly as everyone claims. Indeed, the Finn is playing an important role in the current world championship. "A lot is said about Valtteri Bottas, but thanks to him Mercedes can do their strategy. When Verstappen responds, they go with Bottas in the lead. As a result, Hamilton had a free pit stop."
Miscommunication at Red Bull
By miscommunication the pitstop of Verstappen went wrong. The team was not yet ready for the Dutchman and therefore lost much-needed seconds. "It forced Verstappen to push hard right away. He had no backing. It allows Mercedes to be strategically aggressive."