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  1. #1
    Senior Member truefan72's Avatar
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    Bottas retained for 2021 by Mercedes, thoughts?

    To me it means Russell joins the team in 2022 when Bottas moves back to a semi competitive Williams and Hamilton just enjoys the role as a maestro to Russell protege. Who knows where the Mercedes will be after the rule changes but for now they just want to ride out this era with the same pairing. But Russell will need a strong guarantee or contract in place for 2022 otherwise mercedes might lose a clear future World champ and incredible driver to someone else.
    you can't argue with results.

  2. Likes: Fortitude (7th January 2022)
  3. #2
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    I think Bottas has done enough to warrant his 2021 extension. Mercedes is playing it safe as they have a driver good enough to win the championship if Hamilton have issues or secure second place otherwise. This implies they have a strong lineup.

    That said, l think they can afford to take a small risk with Russell to give the youngster a chance to continue his development while learning from the six times worlds champion Hamilton. That would have brought them in line with Redbull, Ferrari and Mclaren's preparation of the next generation of racers, with the likes of Verstapenn, Leclerc, Norris and Russell joining the fore.

    2022 is also a great entry point for Russell into the Peronas Mercedes drive. As it would give Mercedes the service of Bottas with Hamilton for the opportunity to help develop the car of the new GP1 era. They probably would not want to do this with a less experienced driver like Russell.

    I personally think that Russell should abandon his Mercedes links if he does not get the Mercedes drive in 2022. Or his career would be put in serious risk by the up and coming stars from the F2 series. As it did for Werhlien and Ocon to some extent.

    Lets face it, Mercedes have a crap junior programme. It has become a wasteland where young talent go to kill their prospects. None of their young drivers has made it out of the tailend of the grid while in the programme. Except ocon and his Force India drive which was the move that killed Werhliens F1 career. Ocon had to cut ties with Mercedes to get into Renault as no one would touch him while he was on the Mercedes programme. Werhlien's F1 career was completely destroyed. His clearly great talent is languishing in Formula E at such a young age.
    Last edited by Nitrodaze; 7th August 2020 at 12:59.
    Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
    William Shakespeare

  4. Likes: truefan72 (7th August 2020)
  5. #3
    Senior Member N. Jones's Avatar
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    They played it safe. I didn't think about what happens after 2021 but it will be interesting if George moves to Merc and Bottas moves back to Williams(?).
    " Lady - I'm in an awful dilemma.
    Moe - Yeah, I never cared much for these foreign cars either."

  6. #4
    Senior Member Jag_Warrior's Avatar
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    It wasn't broken (actually working quite well), so no need to fix it.

    Good for Bottas. Russell's time will come soon enough.
    "Every generation's memory is exactly as long as its own experience." --John Kenneth Galbraith

  7. #5
    Senior Member journeyman racer's Avatar
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    I don't understand a certain entitlement that's there for Russell?

  8. Likes: Fortitude (7th January 2022),pantealex (10th August 2020)
  9. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by journeyman racer View Post
    I don't understand a certain entitlement that's there for Russell?
    Russel is a Mercedes junior. He is in the Mercedes programme with the promise to progress into a Mercedes senior seat as Leclerc has done at Ferrari and Verstapenn and Albon has done at RBR. His entitlement is given because he is the next generation of Mercedes pilot.
    Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
    William Shakespeare

  10. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nitrodaze View Post
    Russel is a Mercedes junior. He is in the Mercedes programme with the promise to progress into a Mercedes senior seat
    Like Wehrlein and Ocon were?
    Oct. 31, 1999 - one of the blackest days in motorsports.

  11. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by gm99 View Post
    Like Wehrlein and Ocon were?
    True, the Mercedes Junior programme has yet to promote a junior into one of their Petronas Mercedes car. But Russell has the unique position of being in pole position for the next free seat in the senior team. He has competition from Ocon in a better [Renault] car than he has at the moment. But l think he is better than Ocon and Mercedes would see that if l can see that from my armchair.
    Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
    William Shakespeare

  12. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by gm99 View Post
    Like Wehrlein and Ocon were?
    And vandoorne.

  13. #10
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    Bottas is doing a better job the last season or so, he is just in a bad situation being paired (and thus compared) to Lewis. It's a similar situation to whoever is driving with Max right now. A couple seasons back, I would have said he was ready to be moved. But overall Bottas 2.0 is an improvement, and without Lewis or Max around he would probably be winning some races more often.

  14. Likes: Fortitude (7th January 2022),pantealex (13th August 2020)

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