If I get genuinely thought he had a shot at the title, I'd have a differing opinion. Which now means he's going to come out of nowhere and boss it.
Max has matured into a fair racer rather than the idiot he was at the beginning. Max has learned that to win you have to stay on the track. Lewis is very confident in his own skin, he too has continued to mature, taking care of the tyres. Max will analyse evrything Lewis does and will continue to improve. Trading positions with Lewis is great for Max in his learning. Le Clerc is not getting this experience of dualling and learning from Lewis, which is a shame. Butt Russell will be quick and young enough not to stress IF Lewis is better. I think there will be one, if not two, challengers in Max's career who will take championships. Whatever else Lewis goes on to achieve he is going to be a hard act to beat. On Bottas, he partnered Massa at Williams, not comparable. When you look back at the drivers who could replace Nico in 2017, the choice was not great. Alonso and Jenson had already had the experience. Bottas was better than Massa at that time. Daniel thought his future was at Red bull. Vettel was firmly at Ferrari. Bottas was the best of the rest. I do think Lewis has sacrificed his personal life and maybe happiness to achieve his goals but he is doing good things elsewhere. .
Disagree with that, he's still by far the best No. 2 driver on the grid, and Red Bull have worked out that's what they need. Perez is perhaps getting there, but I could really see them taking Bottas if the option because available. Mercedes could play the strategy games they wanted to today because in the first half of the race, Bottas was an issue for Verstappen. Perez wasn't ever in the picture to cause Merc to pause for thought when executing their plan. On the topic of Bottas, he's a decent qualifier and ok racing in free air. He's probably got 98% of Hamilton's ability in those areas, and when Merc aren't threatened then that's enough. He's a reliable finisher and keeps things clean. His biggest issue seems to be overtaking. He spends an inordinate amount of time stuck behind slower cars, which just ruins his race. He was unlucky to be passed in T3 today, but the number of laps it took for him to retake P3 is what really cost him. Bottas doesn't seem able to come back from a tricky situation in the way that Hamilton and Verstappen can.
Fair comment . I like Bottas as I’m sure a lot of you know and I honestly hope he turns it around . I just don’t think he can .
Personally, I'd love for him to find a way to turn it on. I'd also love for Checo to find something to really challenge Max. Sadly they're both up against two drivers that are truly on the top of their **** right now.
Those are fair comments. Playing number 2 to a very talented driver is a hard job. Assuming the swap with George happens this coming winter might we have the Lewis vs Alonso at Mclaren moment repeated.
Mercedes have the great dilemma of having a near-perfect driver partnership, ideally suited to winning both titles - but Hamilton isn't going to be around forever and it's clear Bottas won't step up in his absence. Do you: 1) Run Hamilton+Bottas until Hamilton retires, winning every title until he does, but risking losing out on Russell, Norris, etc if they get other offers and having a lead driver post-Hamilton who is new to the car/team? 2) Replace Bottas sooner, and risk a Hamilton/Alonso situation costing you a title sooner, but leaving you with an established lead driver when Hamilton retires?
I think Lewis is not Alonso. I believe Alonso has stated he is the best driver on the grid, I think he is either delusional or mis quoted. I do think Mercedes could control a Lewis/George clash, for now. I feel the partnership of Lewis and Valterri has been successful but has run its course. Bottas is less adaptable as a driver, maybe because his confidence is damaged. But Lewis and George, I have a feeling, not withstanding George's own immaturity, could be strong. There again one or even two wrong clashes with Lewis could lose Lewis and Mercedes the championship. Toto I suspect would make it very clear to George, effectively giving Lewis no 1 status.
I guess if you don't have the mindset that you're the best, then you're going to fail. So realistically he's got to think that. Vocalizing it, maybe not.
Alonso has been poor so far this season, but probably needs a few more races to get used to the new car. Bottas is just a modern day Barricello but slightly worse.
Alonso deserves time. Been out for two years and is dealing with metal plates in his jaw after breaking it just before the season. Ocon has the benefit of a season in the team and we’ve seen the same thing at McLaren with Norris, who Ricciardo openly says has found the limit of the car much easier than he himself has. Alonso was excellent in the Imola race, Ricciardo improved at Barcelona. They don’t become bad drivers overnight and the big test will be if they get given a car that can fight for podiums next year.
not overnight, but a gradual decline over a few years would be fairly normal, he's not far short of 40.
In life generally, age is just a number, but in sport it is an indicator of reaction time, fitness, getting bored of going round a wiggly circle etc. According to the Times newspaper Lewis was playing mind games with Max saying he learned at lot about Max, his way of driving, by following him lap after lap. I don't think that was a mind games, I believe he probably did learn a lot about Max's driving style.