Fastest lap: Valtteri Bottas
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2020 Spanish Grand Prix
- 2020 Spanish Grand Prix Star Performers
- Hamilton’s record podium, Raikkonen’s record mileage
- F1 teams welcome ban on testing at new tracks for 2020
- Perez felt fit enough to return earlier – Szafnauer
- Bottas describes his season as “pretty bad” since the first race
Chaitanya
16th August 2020, 15:49
Sacrifice of Albon cost him what could have been P5.
Jere (@jerejj)
16th August 2020, 15:52
@Chaitanya Indeed. Going for the hard that early on was a mistake. Still, though, he should’ve got passed Seb towards the end.
medman (@medman)
16th August 2020, 15:51
I am satiated.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
16th August 2020, 15:51
VeRsTaPpEn Is ThE fAvOrItE tO wIn
DAllein (@)
16th August 2020, 15:55
I think Toto meant “Driver of the Day”, just didn’t explicitly say it… for whatever reason that guy gets this award pretty often.
knightameer (@knightameer)
16th August 2020, 15:55
Mercedes before race: Verstappen is quicker than us.
Mercedes after the race: We meant quicker than Bottas only. Lol, got yaa!!
Jokes aside, it does show the difference between a great driver and an average driver. If Bottas were to be their lead driver, a Mercedes wouldn’t be leading the championship.
Jay
16th August 2020, 16:14
If Bottas were their lead driver he would be where Lewis is in the standings, even if not as far ahead on the track.
Lewis will get exposed if he goes up against an actual great driver.
sebsronnie (@sebsronnie)
16th August 2020, 16:17
Who is that “actual great driver”?
ian dearing
16th August 2020, 16:52
Yea, people have been mentioning since his first season in F1. 88 wins and three WDC teammates later they are still coming out with this nonsense.
mystic one (@mysticus)
16th August 2020, 19:01
@ian dearing people were also saying if you put a monkey in that Mercedes where Lewis is sitting, it will cruise to victory… Hmm… Now bottas is and average driver… or bottas not getting good treatment as Lewis is getting… next conspiracy theory?
MG1982 (@mg1982)
16th August 2020, 19:11
No, but it’s common sense: age affects everybody and there’s the speed of the best youngsters (like VER, LEC, RIC)! Remember how M.Schumacher got trounced by a “nobody” like N.Rosberg etc. Nothing lasts forever, it’s a FACT.
F1oSaurus (@)
16th August 2020, 19:47
@mysticus Bottas is actually a great driver.
Clearly he made a mistake at the start, but the biggest mistake was taking the softs at the end. Hamilton refused and demanded medium tyres.
DeanR (@deanr)
16th August 2020, 18:35
Wah wah wah. 88 wins and 6 WDCS say your talking nonsense. Still…always makes m smile to hear you sour pusses crying your eyes out. Jo et
Blazzz (@blazzz)
16th August 2020, 19:46
@Jay
Noob comment. 1st race? 1st season?
HR (@hiperr)
17th August 2020, 8:16
@mg1982 Verstappen and Leclerc are fair choices for the best youngsters, but Danny Ric, as much as I’m a fan of his, is certainly not a youngster any more. He’s four-and-a-half years younger than Lewis, but he’s also more than eight years older than Verstappen and Leclerc.
WHITEDOG
16th August 2020, 17:39
What the hell is bottas in a Merc for….. absolutely useless as a racer he is a test driver at best can get the car to go fast but put him in a race environment ands he’s rubbish can’t defend can’t overtake
JohnH (@johnrkh)
16th August 2020, 15:52
The speed of the Mercs over the rest of the field is phenomenal and no engine modes? What was RB thinking with Albons strategy?
DAllein (@)
16th August 2020, 15:53
You heard Christian saying how “risk is in RBR’s DNA”… well, it was the risk for something. Didn’t work out today
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
16th August 2020, 16:27
Albon was the lab rat today. Otherwise its just not rational to have softs, hard and medium as a tyre strategy on that Red Bull.
DAllein (@)
16th August 2020, 15:52
Magnificent race!
Barcelona is as always super awesome, the weather was super nice (I liked how Sky tried to hype up rain hysteria, but it never came)
And hey, tyres held up! I think this is a success for Pirelli (still #F1DitchPirelli)
DAllein (@)
16th August 2020, 15:54
BTW…
All the media-blown Mercedes\Tyre saga turned out to be fake
Oh dear, oh dear!
I think we need to start RBR\Tyre hysteria right now, as clearly they were not able to manage their tyres that fabulously today, and it means – their tyres will just blow up every 40 laps from now on!
Sounds so plausible!
Racefans should jump on this topic first (out of all other media outlets)!
DAllein (@)
16th August 2020, 15:56
Oh, and lapping the whole field bar Top 3 – nice work!
RBR may wish for engine modes to go away, but they must understand this will not get them closer to Mercs… probably closer to midfield behind
Nitzo (@webtel)
16th August 2020, 15:55
Lewis, Max and Bottas lapped a lot of cars…
Yawn emoji.
They also lapped a 2019 Mercedes painted pink !!!
Shocked face emoji.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
16th August 2020, 15:57
Just pathetic to watch. Only 3 cars finished on a lead lap. What utter nonsense.
Bottas is just a waste of in a perfectly good machinery. Loses places in the opening lap and then showing no spine to question the team decision to put the car on softs. Then managing those softs only to put the fastest lap of the race on those tyres in lap 63. Is this racing or what.
Ferrari and Vettel needs to sort out their communication issues because the car seems decent on the tyres and it was a good drive.Good drive from Sainz and Stroll with the latter pulling an overtake on Bottas. Red Bull experimenting with hard tyres on Albon did not do any good. Not that it mattered. Good job from Kimi. Good job from Hamilton.
OOliver
16th August 2020, 16:05
Nothing to sort out for Ferrari and Vettel.
As far as they are concerned, he is no longer in the team. After Leclerc retired, they were already packing up to go home. It was after his radio message they realized they still had another car on the race track.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
16th August 2020, 16:11
Then who is driving the car for the next races in Belgium, Italy, Russia, Germany and Portugal? There are points to be scored even in this car.
DAllein (@)
16th August 2020, 18:17
And what’s so pathetic in 3 cars on lead lap?
Check every era of F1 and you will see such races are not that uncommon
Alex
16th August 2020, 16:02
Gotta give some credit to Bottas, he’s doing the impossible – coming third in a two horse race.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
16th August 2020, 16:26
Yes all due credit to him.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
16th August 2020, 16:36
The credit should go to Hamilton and Verstappen. They are both incredibly good drivers. I think Bottas is sometimes underwhelming, but he really isn’t quite as bad as people think. In terms of his teams of the team getting the WDC and WCC, they have always managed that, and he’s helped with one of them.
Suffering Williams Fan
16th August 2020, 17:08
I agree Ben, though I’d actually be a little more generous to Bottas, who I view as a very good driver. It’s just unfortunate for him that the benchmark against which he’s being compared is Hamilton, where failing to be great seems to make some people conclude that instead of being merely very good, you must actually be a waste of space. Weird.
WHITEDOG
16th August 2020, 18:20
He’s not a race driver just wingman can’t defend and can’t overtake…never has done in all his F1 career
F1oSaurus (@)
16th August 2020, 19:59
Did you only see this one race? Bottas actually made some great moves before. Even as a rookie at Williams he beat Maldonado and he went on to dominate Massa. Agreed that both doesn’t say too much but still.
He had some great recovery drives from the back of the grid to the front. He can overtake.
mystic one (@mysticus)
16th August 2020, 19:12
I wish they signed up Vettel for Mercedes, it will be a waste of entertainment people are complaining about… Vettel and Hamilton would be great for the sport too. For Mercedes it would be a fenomenal marketing opportunity… 2 drivers who had it all for the past 10 years almost…
F1oSaurus (@)
16th August 2020, 20:00
@mysticus Vette can’t even beat Leclerc, what would even be the point of pitting him against Hamilton?
mystic one (@mysticus)
16th August 2020, 20:41
@f1osaurus i disagree, vettel has a specific type of driving style with specific type of car… he likes high downforce high speed car… he is not the best all around but i believe he would be fenomenal in that mercedes, which is planted to the ground in corners like RB was… this car would suit his driving style and would be interesting to watch him against ham in the same machinery… he like alonso matured enough with their current experience in multiple teams i believe to work in the team as a team if given equal opportunity …
F1oSaurus (@)
16th August 2020, 20:47
@mysticus He certainly has a very specific type of driving style. Pirouettes and bumping into other cars.
Sure, if he has the fastest car and a muzzled team mate, indeed he could probably win again. is that praise really though?
Either way, drivers like Hamilton, Senna and Alonso would get the best out of a car no matter what. That’s exactly what sets them above the rest
Fred
16th August 2020, 20:21
2022 can’t come quick enough to save F1.
Just hope some of the struggling teams can hang on that long!