F1 Half Term Report: Rate the Grid - Valtteri Bottas

[Paul Jeffrey]

Having quite simply exceeded everyone's expectations bar his own, tell us what you think to the start of Valtteri Bottas' Mercedes Grand Prix career.

Pretty much everyone in the Formula One paddock expected Bottas to roll over for former World Champion Lewis Hamilton in 2017, however the quietly spoken Finn has been bang on the money all season, more than matching his illustrious team mate and keeping himself right in contention for the drivers championship this year.

With two wins already and an even 50 / 50 split between the two Mercedes drivers with regards to highest finishes during the year, Bottas has more than proven himself deserving of the coveted Mercedes drive in place of outgoing champion Nico Rosberg.

Strong start to the season, race wins, fastest laps and pole positions, mixed in with some slightly shoddy mistakes in some moments have left Bottas with occasionally conflicting performances. Taking all this into account, how do you rate his performances so far in 2017?


Vote now to tell us how you rate the first half of 2017 for Valtteri Bottas, and leave a comment below!

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[Coffer]

7.3, voted 7. He's done well, but like other drivers who have switched teams prior to this season, he still needs time to adapt, and his situation is made worse by his clear #2 role within the team. He has the consistency to be a champion one day, but so far he hasn't shown to have much else - his one-lap pace is far from the best and he very clearly lacks the ruthless motivation of drivers like Vettel and Hamilton. He's too easy to push aside. Worst of all, he's been heavily carried by the Mercedes car, which since Canada has been the vastly superior car in regular conditions, and his BOTTAS OF DESTRUCTION form from 2015 has clearly made a comeback through his ridiculous collisions with Raikkonen.

If there's one good thing to be said about him, it's that, without the team orders, he would be right next to Hamilton in the championship. Given his engine failure in Spain, it's safe to say that he's performed better than expected against Hamilton so far this season, and in my eyes, he is the better of the two Mercedes drivers right now. However, if this is all that Mercedes have to offer on the driver front, then it's little wonder why Vettel continues to lead the championship in an inferior car. If Hamilton doesn't step up, they will need a new star driver, and I'm not sure Bottas is the man they need for that job.

Put Wehrlein, Ocon or Ricciardo in the car, and we might just have a different championship leader right now. Put Verstappen in the car, and all doubts regarding that would immediately fade away. Put Vettel in the car, and the season would already be over. With this lineup, given the current form of the two drivers, Mercedes are risking losing a championship they should be winning. Bottas will naturally improve as he continues to adapt to the team and the car, and I don't see Hamilton beating him next year at the very least, but the kind of aggression and motivation needed to triumph in anything less than a dominant car cannot be obtained through experience and hard work alone, and I fear Valtteri, unlike Mika and Kimi at their respective peaks, doesn't have what it takes on that front despite rapidly approaching his own peak. More and more though, it feels that he is not the one whom Mercedes should be considering finding a replacement for...

 

[Tobiman]

Has the pace to challenge Lewis on a good day. Needs to keep his head down and just give his best every race. You never know...

 

[Sky]

 

[yusupov]

coffer's certainly got some...interesting opinions on these threads. a lot of stuff i agree with in this case tho. bottas is a machine, i would say he's been faultless this year but i'm sure there are one or even two instances... but he's simply not wow-fast. i would say that any reputation as a push-over is misguided bc he has reason to play the long game right now & is an unassuming guy. but there was a race at monza (i think it was last year) where ricciardo came from way back to overtake him under braking heading into the first chicane late in the race. when he was interviewed he said he was confident he could do it because bottas is a very clean driver, something to that effect -- words that could come off as complimentary. but something about it -- the delivery or the exact phrasing or both -- really rubbed me the wrong way at the time; i felt sure ric was saying 'we know this is a guy who can be pushed around.'

don't know what the truth is there but that interview was probably the first thing i thought of after he came to mercedes.

anyway, 9 from me. same performance from hamilton would probably be a 6 at best...i think that says a lot. bottas has been great this season, but has yet to show he's a great talent.

 

[Coffer]

coffer's certainly got some...interesting opinions on these threads.

The joys of being bored and interested in observing driver styles. It's helped me quite a bit in games like AMS so far. I also tend not to rate based merely on what I expect of them, which influences my ratings.

but something about it -- the delivery or the exact phrasing or both -- really rubbed me the wrong way at the time; i felt sure ric was saying 'we know this is a guy who can be pushed around.'

If you keep in mind that Ricciardo is exceptionally aggressive and prone to going too far when racing against drivers who actually try to hold their line, it comes off as stroking his ego. Bottas knows how to play the long game, as you said, but he overdoes it in situations like that (and is still very clumsy on lap 1 in spite of that). Ricciardo also knows him well as he beat Bottas by 1 point in FR2.0.

 

[snyperal]

He's no Hamilton or vettel but then neither was Rosberg.

I don't think he would be in equal points with Hami, and I don't think he is the clear #2 driver at Mercedes. I also think Hamilton showed a touch of class giving the spot back the other week. No other driver I can think of who is in world championship contention would've done that.

I gave him a 9, because this is his best season in f1 so far, he's a team player and could be surprise underdog for the title, he only needs a couple of events to come his way...

 

[Coffer]

I don't think he would be in equal points with Hami

When you calculate the points lost from team orders and his Spain engine failure relative to Hamilton's much more mild headrest failure, that's objectively incorrect. The same goes for him being a #2, as seen in races like Bahrain.

 

[AnklaX]

On some races, Mercedes struggles and on those days, Bottas seem to struggle less than LH. If things go south for Vettel, I think Bottas will be the main title contender, with all due respect to LH's abilities.

 

[Jan Larsen]

8. Aside from a few noobie moments (like China), he's been solid, especially considering how late he entered the team. New team, new car, new engineers, new teammate. Everything new but still got a few wins.
Needs more pace, both single lap and race if Hamilton has his car to his liking, as shown in Hungary and a few other races.

 

[Jimlaad43]

The perfect number 2 driver. He is not quite as fast as Hamilton overall, but is there to score points when it goes wrong for Lewis. The more bad weekends Lewis has, the better Bottas will come along, and he could still snatch the title if everything goes his way.

 

[Runic]

 

[M-Bimmer]

Well a one year contract meant that benz had doubts about him but to see him win and qualify on top were probably not on some people's mind (taken into consideration that Ferrari is giving benz a run for their money)
Of course, he knows that he is number 2 but he is smart judging by Hungary's deal.
No one actually believed that he would be Rosberg at his first season but he would probably be damn good if he's still around for a year of two...

 

[Klodian Stafa]

he is number 2 driver

not bad for a #2 driver he is doing well and he has keept vettel behind fol hamilton and has done his job for mercedes to win wcc (for the 1st half who know what is going to happen next but i dont think bottas will win wdc its vettel or hamilton)

 

[pcraenme]

He is doing quite well, but I think half the grid would perform the same if they would be driving a Mercedes. What would this season have been like if Alonso would be driving the #2 Mercedes car? But I think Lewis would not have liked that... Score.. 7

 

[AvGas]

He's just going for broke. Voted 10 for consistency, focus, effort, team playing, all the good things. But at the end of the day, he is going for a championship. After toiling at Williams and being given a winning car, would you do anything different? Probably the best all-round choice for that seat this year. Keeping his head and his right foot down.

 

[Leonardo Chaves]

If i judge him with the expectations people had of him around the pre-season, aka he's not gonna be able to fill Rosberg's shoes, he's doing exceptionally well.

If i go from the perspective of a top driver racing for the WC team, he's doing good but not that good, although he is still hanging in the championship battle to me he's clearly the third guy here... things would have to go way wrong for the other 2 for him to actually win.

 

[Lesley Buurlage]

got a 7 from me, consistent, does the job, but is not really a stand-out driver. apart from his 2 wins (which weren't really dominant) i haven't had a moment this season that i thought "wow now that's impressive" i guess he'll stay longer at mercedes, but imo that's more because of the fact that there are no better options available than his amazing performances

 

[John-Eric Saxén]

Put Wehrlein, Ocon or Ricciardo in the car, and we might just have a different championship leader right now. Put Verstappen in the car, and all doubts regarding that would immediately fade away. Put Vettel in the car, and the season would already be over. With this lineup, given the current form of the two drivers, Mercedes are risking losing a championship they should be winning. Bottas will naturally improve as he continues to adapt to the team and the car, and I don't see Hamilton beating him next year at the very least, but the kind of aggression and motivation needed to triumph in anything less than a dominant car cannot be obtained through experience and hard work alone, and I fear Valtteri, unlike Mika and Kimi at their respective peaks, doesn't have what it takes on that front despite rapidly approaching his own peak. More and more though, it feels that he is not the one whom Mercedes should be considering finding a replacement for...

Not sure if your post is serious or sarcasm. So Vettel would do much better... the same guy who lost against Ricciardo and who often gets out-qualified by 37 year old Raikkonen? Well, I guess that can be debated. But if you say that Wehrlein who has yet to show anything apart from one race could handily beat Bottas/Hamilton, I think you're a bit delusional.

he is number 2 driver

not bad for a #2 driver he is doing well and he has keept vettel behind fol hamilton and has done his job for mercedes to win wcc (for the 1st half who know what is going to happen next but i dont think bottas will win wdc its vettel or hamilton)

If he is the #2 driver, then why did Hamilton let him back past at Hungary? Picture yourself Schumacher/Barrichello in the same situation, no way a true number two driver is allowed to take points away from number one, especially at this point in the championship.

From me Bottas gets a 9, one number deduction mainly for the noob mistake in China and being off the pace in Spain.

 

[paracletus]

Has done well.