Bottas in the crosshairs of criticism
Valtteri Bottas returned this year to F1 alongside Sergio Perez thanks to Cadillac’s choice to field a pair of absolutely experienced drivers. The Americans are at the beginning of their journey in the Circus, and they need reliable feedback on track, so their decision can be understood at least for the debut season. But it is clear that it is not a futuristic operation.
Read more Short step: the ‘shortcut’ taken by McLaren that now has a limit
Bottas and Perez are respectively the fourth and fifth oldest drivers in F1 behind the podium made up of the unbeatable Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, and Nico Hülkenberg. However, this trio continues to drive with great motivation and – in the case of the Ferrari driver – with better results than 12 months ago. For the Cadillac home drivers, and especially for Bottas, the discussions are different. According to Günther Steiner, for example, number 77 does not deserve a renewal.
Steiner’s words on Bottas
“Checo continues to give his best with what he has available, and in part so does Valtteri. Perez is simply better than him at the moment: he is trying to do something, while Bottas apparently has stopped trying,” said the South Tyrolean on The Red Flags Podcast. “If Cadillac were to change a driver, they would change Valtteri.”
Read more Marquez: “Who will be my heir? Acosta can lead the new generation”
“His results are not that good. I think Valtteri expected something different. Maybe he is thinking that the reserve role at Mercedes was a good role, and that it’s not worth making all this effort to finish last.”
As of today, it seems unlikely that the Finn will keep his seat. Cadillac, which was already his last resort after the reserve year at Mercedes, is now looking at much younger profiles, such as Rafael Câmara and Leonardo Fornaroli. Bottas, after all, has only found speed in qualifying in the last three weekends, while Perez has beaten him in three of the four GPs where both finished. Not to mention that Checo came close to Cadillac’s first historic point in F1, in Monte Carlo.
Read more The crazy idea of Dall’Igna: «For 2027 I had proposed a hybrid engine»
