2019 Bahrain F1 GP - Sakhir

[journeyman racer]

You'd hope that it isn't a new Bottas this year? Otherwise Hamilton fans won't be able to enjoy watching the races. British psychiatrists will also be inundated with work.

You've got to love the logic though. Bottas has a barnstormer of a race putting 20secs on Hamilton, and it's all down to a minor break of the bodywork. Then the situation is reversed in Bahrain, and Hamilton is god again while Bottas is a ********. So according to TBK, the break of Hamilton's car in Melbourne cost him 40+secs!!!

Makes sense...

It's only two races. So far though they tell contrasting stories for Bottas. If Bottas drove perfectly last year, he'd still at best finish 2nd. In Melbourne, he was perfect and won. In Bahrain, he was terrible and struggled with difficulties and still finished 2nd. Whereas last year in a similar situation, he'd be 4th or worse.

As long as the points are close and Ferrari are no threat, MB won't be favouring team orders for Hamilton like they did last year. Never mind not allowing Bottas challenge for the win in Germany and the Russia thing. After Canada, Vettel took the championship lead by 1pt from Hamilton with Bottas about 35 back. Vettel/Ferrari were a serious threat for the championship, and MB weren't going to be complacent or appease a theatre going audience.

It's not just Germany and Russia. It was all the remaining races and prior to the weekend beginning. Everything would've been done to ensure Hamilton's result was optimised. A 1-2 in the championship would've been ideal, but it's not the priority. Not only did Bottas not win a race last year, he didn't even beat Hamilton in head to head once after Canada, 14 races. Unknowledgeable fans think it's a superiority of Hamilton all due to an inherent gift? No, there's always a lot more to racing than seen.

That's how teams operate. That's why they let Bottas get some glory with the FL stats. That's why they offer him another contract when some of you would've burnt him at the stake think you knew better. They know he's capable and was pulling his weight. But under the circumstances, his result were expendable.

And Bottas is 4 seconds behind Hamilton after 8 laps. So much for his title contender status.

20 remaining races. It took the first 8 laps.

I wonder what took you so long?