Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each

106 comments on “Bottas vs Rosberg: Hamilton’s Mercedes team mates compared after 78 races each”

1. 

   Jere (@jerejj)
   9th March 2021, 13:32

   An interesting comparison.
   1. 

      Mayrton
      10th March 2021, 11:48

      “In that time Hamilton has gone from being one of F1’s greats to arguably the greatest of them all, with seven titles to his name plus record-setting hauls of wins and pole positions.”
      “I knew how good [Hamilton] was,” said Rosberg. “For the outside world it is now a confirmation that he is the best of all time, even by titles

      Still not comfortable with this personally. Great driver, but the best? The car dominance is just too much here to be able to state this. 8 WCC’s in a row, the ninth coming up… that sure is a strong car
      1. 

         Dave (@davewillisporter)
         10th March 2021, 19:26

         A better question is who is most successful against team mates.

         In that regard, Lewis has been beaten twice, once by Button which personally I think needs to be written off. If you followed the 2011 season it was off track problems that messed with his mind. Once he sorted them out he was back to beating his team mate. Second time was Rosberg in 2016. Absent of the reliability problems, he took his foot off the gas after COTA 2015 and allowed Rosberg to gain massive confidence and momentum. That was a mistake but again, not related to his skill on track. Since then he has been unstoppable both on and off track.
         Alonso has been beaten once and coincidentally by Lewis. Seb has been beaten three times. Schumi’s first career he was unbeaten.
         You would have to conclude that Schumi was the most immediately complete all round performer. He knew what he had to do from day one, but he was deeply flawed in that he would do anything to win including being unsporting. Alonso is probably the most tenacious and consistent (proviso, if he gets beaten by Ocon he will mirror Schumi’s second go) across his career but when faced with a faster team mate he imploded and like Schumi resorted to unsporting actions. Lewis is probably the most naturally talented but took a while to get to the cerebral level of Alonso and Schumi. Where Lewis is now is a level beyond both Alonso and Schumi in that he has all their talents and skills and has improved on them but draws a line at being unsporting. In 2021 He is the best of the last four most successful drivers and the better sportsman.
         He will retire having thoroughly deserved this accolade. Whether Charles, Max, George gets to his level remains to be seen. I doubt anyone will beat his records for decades due to the combined dominance of Merc and Lewis. That’s not the point. I am watching to see if any of them match his consistent excellence and (better late than never) racing intelligence.
         1. 

            Dave (@davewillisporter)
            10th March 2021, 21:22

            Here’s what most armchair pundits don’t get about being an F1 driver. It’s as much a mental game as a driver skill game. For those who arbitrarily compare Rosberg to Bottas based on stats, read on!!

            Lewis won his first championship in his second year in F1. His first year was arguably the most challenging of any driver in the history of the sport. Alonso as a team mate who, despite all the noise and arguments actually was Ron Dennis’s choice to bring the crown back to McLaren and a rookie upstaged him. That took some guts! (People applaud Rosberg for sticking to his guns in equal status next to Schumi and then Lewis. Imagine if Rosberg had the strength of conviction to do that in 2006 as a rookie alongside Webber!) Added to which the media went absolutely nuts and hounded Lewis, literally destroying some long established relationships with rumours of girlfriends etc.

            After he won his first title, Lewis raced on. He was hungry for the next challenge.

            Nico achieved a lifelong ambition in 2016 after 11 seasons in the sport. He finally grasped the championship trophy and deservedly so after committing a huge amount of his life and energy. For those who don’t know, go listen to him talking about it. What he did to win was extreme!

            Lewis’s response was “That’s not happening ever again!”

            Nico’s response was “I don’t ever want to go through that again!”

            The result was Nico retired and Lewis raised his game and continued.

            They are fundamentally different animals. Introduce Bottas. A last minute signing who Toto believed needed further development. (He’s doing this to George right now and Toto has managed a few drivers to date, he knows what he is doing!)

            As Lewis strives for greater excellence year on year, Bottas has been growing too. He’s very fast and causes Lewis problems on Saturdays in much the same way Nico did, who was also an extremely fast qualifier. Interviews with people involved with his early F1 testing can attest to this.)

            The fact that people miss is that Bottas is racing the Lewis that emerged from being beaten by a team mate he knew based on 18 years of superiority, that he was better than. Lewis knows he got beaten by an inferior driver and has taken steps to address that. What hope has Bottas got if Lewis has reached the point where his unbelievable driving talent is now shored up with him plugging all those mental weaknesses he once had?

            Rosberg would fare no better than Bottas today. Rosberg has admitted that he couldn’t keep it up and he quit. At least credit Bottas for a belief that he can improve to beat Lewis because Rosberg came to the conclusion that he couldn’t and that 2016 was a one off.

            There is only one driver that stands a chance against Lewis and that is Max. Put Charles or George or Lando in the same car and they’ll spend a year or two studying telemetry and asking themselves “how is that possible?” as Jenson did when he joined McLaren and studied Lewis’s data. I quote from Jenson looking at a very underdeveloped and not well rounded team mate “If he ever figures out how to work with his engineers, the rest of us may as well go home!”

            Lewis is now the most complete driver on the grid, both mentally and in terms of driver skill. Compare like for like. Alonso as his team mate could not (and didn’t beat him in 2007) beat him today, neither could Button. He’s put Seb in the shade, and dominated his team mate, and it could be Rosberg or any other driver on the grid.

            There is only one who can match him race by race and that is Max. That said, I’d like to see how Max performs at the season ender fighting for a championship. Rosberg passed Max several times in 2016 but at the decider in Abu Dhabi when faced with having to overtake Max after a pitstop to put himself back into the championship position, Rosberg said himself it was one of the toughest things he had to do his whole career.

            Mentality and the situation matters!
         2. 

            Dave Smith
            17th June 2021, 14:57

            Great comments. It’s a breath of fresh air coming here from another site where there was a lot of immature comments. Looking forward to enjoying a great sport.

            ~D
   2. 

      twisted sis
      10th March 2021, 13:12

      It’s a comparison that ignores 7 car faults that Hamilton had in 2016, versus 1 puncture for Rosberg. Incredibly.
2. 

   Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
   9th March 2021, 13:48

   It is clear that Rosberg was obviously better than Bottas pace wise, but he also had quite a few advantages that made it easier for him, and some are not really mentioned in depth here.

   Rosberg already had 3 years experience with the team as well as 4 years in f1 before hand too. He had Hamilton come to the team and Hamilton was new to it.

   Bottas started his f1 career in 2013 and had 4 years with Williams, but didn’t have 3 years at mercedes to get used to it before being up against Hamilton. He moved in when Hamilton had already been there for all the seasons Bottas had been in F1.

   With all these things considered, Rosberg had an absolutely massive advantage over Bottas as well as having a more dominant car 2014 – 2016 as the article mentions. In some instances, it is actually quite hard to compare these occasions as the experience is very different. And as the article implies, I also do think Rosberg beating Hamilton has made Hamilton come back stronger than he ever was before.

   I think Rosberg’s aggression and ability on race day was better than Bottas, but Bottas is a cleaner driver, and has less incidents. Bottas does cost the team some points due to lack of pace, but he doesn’t have these moments that causes tension between him and Hamilton like Rosberg had in Spain and austria 2016 and belgium 2014 that quite badly mess up the teams result.

   Bottas is good for a different reason, and although i can understand many consider him boring, he still is pretty much ideal for the team I’d say.
   1. 

      Qeki (@qeki)
      9th March 2021, 13:58

      @thegianthogweed

      +1

      That pretty much sums it up.
      1. 

         TurboBT
         9th March 2021, 14:09

         I agree. Rosberg was a better racer but Bottas is a better Number 2. When Hamilton was not P1, it was Rosberg who got that spot, so, it kinda created headaches most of the times.

         I would not change the current status. Even if Ham goes, GR will easily replace him and the whole spectacle will go on just like now.
         1. 

            petebaldwin (@)
            9th March 2021, 15:58

            Rosberg wasn’t a number 2 – Merc had 2 equal drivers fighting for wins. When he retired, they moved to a number 1 & 2 setup and have had just as much success but with less stress.
            1. 

               Craig white
               10th March 2021, 5:50

               Agree 100% …. the author of this article should also factor in team orders that allowed Hamilton to win , as well as when the team clearly provided Hamilton with the superior strategy during the race , regardless that Bottas was leading the race t the time ….. Rosberg is one of my all time favourites , one of the reasons is he refused to allow the team to make him a No2 ….. and whe. He refused to capitulate and roll over – he won that year …..
            2. 

               juan fanger (@juan-fanger)
               10th March 2021, 7:50

               True that
            3. 

               TurboBT
               10th March 2021, 8:52

               I didn’t mean otherwise, Bottas is still a better number 2 than Rosberg. Bottas has also equal rights to fight for the wins, but he just can’t. Every team needs number 2 driver who gets the win when number 1 can’t, but at the same time does not create turmoil in the team. With Rosberg it would have been ideal if there weren’t those unpleasant environement und psychological war.
            4. 

               Dave (@davewillisporter)
               10th March 2021, 20:06

               Sorry, have to bust a myth here. Bottas has been on the receiving end of two team orders that prevented him from winning. Sochi 2018 where he was told to let Lewis by and Germany 2019 where he was told not to attack Lewis and bring home the 1 2. In the first instance, Merc were fighting Ferrari for the title and were protecting their team position, in the second, they had just come off a run of bad races and didn’t want to continue the trend. Neither time were they prioritising Lewis over the team. They were in fact prioritising the team over their drivers. That’s how this stuff works.
               The reason for Lewis’s “apparent” biased strategy calls is very simple. He can do more with the car and the tyres and therefore provides the team with more strategy options as the race develops. What looks like Merc giving Lewis a better strategy is in fact Lewis providing Merc via his driving skills, options that Bottas cannot provide. Portugal and Imola 2020 are the perfect examples of this. In Portugal, Bottas being behind asks for the opposite tyre but can’t make hs tyres last longer than Lewis and needs to pit first. If you want the opposite to your team mate you need to pit AFTER him. Bottas couldn’t do that. Lewis has always been able to go at the same speed as Bottas but for 10 or so laps longer. Imola demonstrated that. He kept pace up while preserving his tyres and pitted later. That is a skill, not a team bias. Give me any example other than Sochi 2018 and Germany 2019 and I can explain it as a driver tyre management related issue, not as some of you tin foil hat conspiracists would call a number one number two situation. Learn racing!
   2. 

      marcusbreese (@marcusbreese)
      9th March 2021, 14:54

      @thegianthogweed
      +1

      Bottas may not be the driver the fans want, but he’s the driver Mercedes need – not disruptive and fast enough to be a good wingman for Hamilton. Whether this is how Bottas sees the situation is another question, though.
      1. 

         Robbie (@robbie)
         9th March 2021, 16:00

         @thegianthogweed Yeah well summed up, however, for me the previous experience thing, the tenure on the team thing that you use to compare NR and VB gets erased by the time 2020 rolls around and Merc once again have an utterly dominant car. No excuses anymore for VB. He simply is no Nico and after season after season of him saying he was going to prepare better than ever and come out swinging (my wording not his exactly) we saw nothing of that whatsoever last year. I have not spent a single moment feeling any tension nor excitement about the LH/VB pairing. Last year VB just barely beat Max for 2nd in the WDC.

         So then of course there lies the debate about the comfort and the ease a team gets to experience in managing a natural number one great driver with a non-WDC level teammate, vs. what the paying fans really deserve which is to see two top drivers on the top teams duking it out. Oh I know it is just the way it is, and it’s business, and all that. But I just think it is such a shame when hundreds of millions of fans get robbed of what should be a much better and more enthralling pairing, just because it makes for a bit less tension for the relative handful of people on the team, not to mention the natural number one driver.

         Let’s recall TW considered it his duty and responsibility to let LH and NR duke it out on the track when they were miles ahead of everyone else, for there would have been little enthralling going on in F1 otherwise, at least for the titles. And let’s recall that as convenient and easy as it is for a team to have a natural number one and a natural number two that cannot muster enough of what it takes to truly fight for a title, TW wanted 2 more seasons of the LH/NR pairing, and Nico had already signed up through 2018 when he decided to retire at the end of 2016. I will always admire TW for that, but the bottom line for me is that not for one moment have I been enthralled with the LH/VB pairing, and it was the total opposite with LH/NR.

         Taking an extreme outlook, at MS/Ferrari MS literally had the massive advantage (amongst many advantages), of RB under contract to not compete against him, to not rob him of points whenever that was possible, and it reared it’s ugly head in the most blatant of ways at Austria 02. RB literally handed MS the win with metres to go and there was outrage, and as well in the post-race interview RB said he was just obeying his contract. So imagine a grid full of teams with designated number ones, and contracted number twos, and what that would look like for the racing. It would be a joke.

         No, like I say I get the ease for a team, how ‘ideal’ it seems, especially a top team, when they have a natural one and two, but let’s not pretend that is good for anyone but the team and the number one. Oh, and strictly his fans that would really rather not see him challenged. I would say the same for my guy Max, and I would far prefer Perez challenge him too, as would Max. I truly believe that deep down inside all athletes is the reality that a trophy hard fought and won feels much much better than a trophy cakewalked into. Envision again, just for the heck of it, a Max/LH pairing and how explosive and enthralling that would be for the millions and millions of paying fans. Talk about a way to grow excitement and audience around the sport. But alas I have no illusions of that happening, and fully accept that it won’t and why. But still…wow!!

         So heres to the new regs for next year that hopefully will lessen the gaps between the driver pairings and the teams, and at least provide more enthralling racing that way, when a team’s choice of drivers based on their internal comfort level doesn’t. Full respect to TW who at least for a time was willing to be a bit uncomfortable, and full disrespect for MS/Ferrari for doing the opposite.
         1. 

            Terence Blumenthal
            9th March 2021, 23:38

            It’s almost as if you wrote exactly what I’ve been thinking all these years. That has been my entire issue with F1 since 2016. The same team has continued to dominate, but without that intra-team battle, there’s just been too little for me to sustain interest. It’s a little like the last few years of Schumi’s dominance at Ferrari, I just can’t get worked up about forgone conclusions, even if there is the whole ‘privilege to witness greatness’ angle.

            A big factor has been Vettel’s implosion. His rivalry with Lewis Hamilton never became one and that is a real shame as there’s a lot of mutual respect and admiration there. I hope this year something might switch things up a bit, otherwise I’ll continue to get more into UFC.
         2. 

            Esploratore (@esploratore)
            10th March 2021, 3:23

            Not that I’m a ferrari fan, but ferrari also went with 2 number 1s recently with vettel and leclerc, who proved if you’re better than the established driver you can take his place.

            As far as I recall, barrichello let schumacher through two times, in austria in 2 years, once wasn’t for the win, and schumacher paid that back in the USA where he was ahead in 2002 and let barrichello through on the finish line.

            I’ve read around and found some comment from eddie jordan about the number 1 and 2 contract but he’s someone who changes opinion year by year, he previously said “schumacher is the fastest driver I’ve ever seen”, then he starts this number 1 and 2 contract thing, and the barrichello interview isn’t convincing, schumacher himself answered in 2008 that if you are fast enough you will not be told to let the other driver through.

            The austria 2002 decision was unreasonable, there wasn’t any threat on the title and it’s not like they lost 2001 due to few points, but this is on ferrari, not schumacher.

            I don’t really buy into the number 1 and 2 contract theory cause if a number 2 driver is fast enough, he should beat the number 1, at that point if for any silly reason the team doesn’t give him at least equal status, most likely some other team will want him, however if the driver is a bottas he won’t beat hamilton, replace bottas with barrichello, hamilton with schumacher.
            1. 

               Robbie (@robbie)
               10th March 2021, 16:21

               @esploratore I think there are key factors you are missing here though. Firstly RB was never a WDC level driver, and so he was hired because of that, and because the price he would pay, his eyes wide open on this, was that in order to have the prestige of being hired and to drive for Ferrari, which he never otherwise would have been, he would have to have a contract to not rob MS of points on Sunday. What MS is shading when he basically says if the other guy is faster he won’t be asked to pull over, is that RB was driving a car designed for MS, the contract ensuring that they needn’t bother with RB’s preferences in a car, and then MS enjoyed designer tires for his designer car as well.

               Also, when a driver has his teammate with a contract to not compete on Sunday, said driver, MS, needn’t have a single moment of concern psychologically about being out qualified or beaten by him. Oh sure the odd time RB was allowed to outqualify MS, thus keeping up appearances on the team that it was fair game between them, but for MS, he had the mental luxury of knowing that even when they dominated and the only other car/driver with the equipment to beat MS would have to pull over, or take an extra pit stop, or whatever it took to hand the points to MS, well it just didn’t get more skewed nor more easy for MS.

               I find it odd you say you don’t buy into the number 1 and 2 contract ‘theory’ when it is there for you to google the post-race interview of RB at Austria 02 admitting it. It’s not theory, it is fact. Not to mention the teams actions had already made it obvious what was going on there well before that race.

               But to that though, I will add that I don’t think any other team then or since literally did what they did for MS at Ferrari, with a literal contract, but of course others have had to have at least a natural number 1 and 2, or at least decide on a number 1 very early in the season, especially in those years when you knew that at Ferrari all the points possible were going to go to MS from race one of his seasons, no chance for the number 2 to make any inroads on that by taking that mantle away through better performance. Better performance from RB was never in the cards, and was meaningless when he’d still have to hand over the win with metres to go.

               In other words, it was far far more than just about the few number of times RB was literally seen handing over the win to MS. There was also every race where that inevitability was hidden with an extra pit stop here, perhaps a cranked down engine there, any of hundreds of ways they would scupper RB from truly competing if he indeed was having too good a day, by design and by contract. And there’s that huge psychological comfort MS enjoyed with every race, of not having to worry about a teammate whatsoever.
   3. 

      pastaman (@)
      9th March 2021, 15:15

      +1 Great points in combination to the article
   4. 

      ColdFly (@)
      9th March 2021, 15:17

      Rosberg already had 3 years experience with the team as well as 4 years in f1 before hand too. He had Hamilton come to the team and Hamilton was new to it.

      Fair point, @thegianthogweed.
      But then again Rosberg’s relative performance did not taper off after that, and Bottas did not close the gap when accumulating experience in the Mercedes.

      I still think that basically the 2 drivers were very equal in racing talent, and had a similar gap to Hamilton.
      But where Rosberg fought his teammate with intelligence (take a lead early in the season; settle for second when he could afford it), Bottas seems to be fighting Hamilton to beyond his own skill level (and thus making more mistakes due to that).
   5. 

      DrG (@drgraham)
      9th March 2021, 17:24

      I really think that quite apart from the obvious ‘I will not drop the ball again’ regardless of reliability, the cars had their greatest ‘5 seconds a lap’ change in 2017 making them the fastest cars ever. There was a reshuffling of the order with Ferrari getting a better wider operating chassis together etc etc along with the sheer physical differences of how much faster these cars were and subsequently how they would work with the standard cheese tyres.

      I personally feel Rosberg would have never got near LH again given those restraints and believe Bottas has actually done a better job just without the results.

      He has had to mix it with a much tighter field that Rosberg never endured and when he did he clattered around in all honesty.
      1. 

         Dave (@davewillisporter)
         10th March 2021, 19:46

         @drgraham That exactly. Bottas is racing a team mate that Rosberg never had to deal with. Not only that, Rosberg has stated using his own words on camera that he felt he couldn’t have improved on 2016 which contributed to his decision to retire. Lewis absolutely improved after 2016 and did so year after year to 2020. Comparing Bottas vs Lewis 2017 to 2020 is misleading because that is not the Lewis Rosberg raced against from 2013 to 2016. He is a way better driver now. There is no way Rosberg would beat Lewis in 2021. Rosberg has admitted this with his statement.
         1. 

            Dave (@davewillisporter)
            10th March 2021, 20:14

            I included the wording “using his own words on camera” because I have come across more than few people who think their opinion regarding Rosberg is more valid than Rosberg’s opinion about himself. Listen to the guy! He is one of THE most intelligent F1 drivers ever. He knows what he is taking about! When he states in the first instance that he believes he could not improve on 2016, believe him! When he states that Lewis is the best of all time, believe him! He has raced against this guy since he was a teenager. You’ve just watched it on telly!
            1. 

               DrG (@drgraham)
               11th March 2021, 8:21

               +1000%!
   6. 

      DrG (@drgraham)
      9th March 2021, 17:27

      Sorry @ thegianthogweed
   7. 

      Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
      10th March 2021, 12:22

      Rosberg already had 3 years experience with the team as well as 4 years in f1 before hand too. He had Hamilton come to the team and Hamilton was new to it.

      Now Bottas have 7 years of experience in F1 and has been driving for Mercedes in the last 4 seasons. Do you think that he will come close this year to upset Hamilton the way Rosberg did ? I don’t think so. Button did very well against Hamilton at McLaren despite being the new driver in the team.

      With all these things considered, Rosberg had an absolutely massive advantage over Bottas as well as having a more dominant car 2014 – 2016 as the article mentions

      With the exception of 2018 were Ferrari was equally fast as Mercedes. Mercedes was dominant in 2017 and more dominant in 2019, though Ferrari were able to rack poles due to their mighty qualy engine mode, they will often disappear in races because they can’t turn their engine up for the whole race and Mercedes were far way superior in tyre management and overall race pace.
      In 2020, Mercedes produced their most dominant car ever, the mid-season qualy mode ban which was intended to disrupt their dominance and the team shifting resources to 2021 earlier in the season contributed to RBR and RP looking close to them in the second half of the championship.
3. 

   MCBosch (@mcbosch)
   9th March 2021, 13:51

   Very interesting read. Tnx.

   Mercedes’ average performance advantage over the next-quickest car was 0.842 seconds – the highest of the V7 hybrid turbo era.

   obviously has a little typo in it ;)
   1. 

      Miguel Bento
      9th March 2021, 14:49

      Maybe that extra cylinder explains Mercedes dominance…
4. 

   Wellbalanced (@alloythere)
   9th March 2021, 13:56

   The reality is that Bottas has never managed to be challenging Hamilton for the championship towards season’s end. Rosberg did so in 2014, and then converted a championship in 2016.

   I hope to see Bottas do so next year. Like Rosberg, he will need to start strong and then keep the momentum up. I somehow can’t see it happening, however.
   1. 

      hamilz0rs
      9th March 2021, 15:27

      “I hope to see Bottas do so next year”
      LOL.

      Fool me once, shame on you.
      Fool me twice
      Fool me thrice
      Fool me etc…
      1. 

         Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
         9th March 2021, 16:19

         Many people seem to suggest it is just 100% impossible that Bottas will beat Hamilton. It could be next year, or in the next few years, but likely will be sometime soon that Hamilton will be past his peak, and could “possibly” even have a year like 2011 again. Not saying he’s going to or anything. There are a lot of ifs here, but if Bottas has a year like 2019 and Hamilton isn’t as good as he was last year and he’s the one with worse luck (like bottas the past 4 seasons), then he has a decent chance of the WDC. It would certainly make it interesting if Hamilton is the one with a DNF and or bad luck early on. In this area, you can say he’s been pretty lucky since being paired with Bottas. Was Austria 2018 his only mechanical retirement or something? Bottas has had at least 4. That’s before you even include 2 other retirements for other reasons (one admittedly his fault).

         A season of bad luck for Hamilton as well as just being a little worse performance wise than last year could well be an opportunity for Bottas, but yes, the chance is slim, but certainly not ridiculous to suggest.
         1. 

            Robbie (@robbie)
            9th March 2021, 16:40

            @thegianthogweed If you have to stretch that far for any slim chance on VB’s behalf, including giving him a lot more time than he deserves, then I would say now we’re into the territory where it would be far better for the viewing audience that he be replaced, and imho they will do just that after this season, with GR. ‘Next year’ or ‘in the next few years’ for VB? I sure hope not. Imho if VB is still there and LH starts to go past his sell by date (which I highly doubt is going to happen any time soon) and he has more dnfs, it won’t be VB that will snatch the title from LH, but someone such as Max. Unless of course the Mercs remain utterly dominant and I would say even moreso than last year.
            1. 

               Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
               9th March 2021, 17:00

               I am talking about this year and just saying that we can’t be sure when Hamilton may start being past his best. I’m surely not implying that Bottas certainly willl be there in 2022, though, he could be, we don’t know.
            2. 

               Robbie (@robbie)
               9th March 2021, 21:09

               @thegianthogweed Good stuff. Was just riffing off your “or in the next few years” part of your comment, but yeah, hey I like the guy, but, well, you know…I really think GR should be there to learn the ropes from LH before he leaves.
         2. 

            anon
            11th March 2021, 8:17

            @thegianthogweed in the past couple of years, Bottas has only had two DNFs due to mechanical issues – the 2019 Brazilian GP and the 2020 Eifel GP.

            For most of his career at Mercedes, Bottas has only had a single DNF per year due to mechanical problems, and the ones from more recent years were more towards the latter end of the season too (2019 was the penultimate race, whilst 2020’s was more than halfway through the season). On balance, I am not sure that it is quite as much of a differentiator as you suggest it to be.
   2. 

      Dave (@davewillisporter)
      10th March 2021, 20:19

      @alloythere Do you think that Lewis has improved as a driver and a person mentally after 2016? How about 2017, 2018, 2019 or 2020? Do you think Rosberg would be challenging Lewis for the title in 2021 had he stayed? Rosberg himself doesn’t think so! To him, 2016 was the pinnacle of his performance and he was done! 2020 Lewis, he freely admits is a force that he could not beat.
5. 

   Anon
   9th March 2021, 13:59

   The relative pace advantage of the car in 2014-16 compared to 2017-20 might be overstated.

   If Rosberg was pushing Hamilton for wins, they’d be forced to turn up their engines to beat each other. Especially in races like Bahrain where they were battling for the lead at each lap. During some of those years I believe we saw more engine failures, especially in 2016.

   2018 may be the exception, but it didn’t look like Hamilton was threatened by many other drivers during most of the 17-20 era. Once in the lead, he could turn down his engine and save his tires.
   1. 

      Dave (@davewillisporter)
      10th March 2021, 20:24

      That’s factually wrong. Bahrain 2014 Rosberg used an engine mode he shouldn’t have and Lewis repaid the favour the next race. After that the team threatened to take those modes away if the drivers didn’t conform to HPPs recommendations. They both complied. Merc drivers are not allowed to use different engine modes as evidenced by Austria 2020 Styrian GP. Bottas ” I still have x available” Engineer “Yes but we agreed we wouldn’t use it against each other”
6. 

   Napier Railton (@napierrailton)
   9th March 2021, 14:13

   Lewis has never really had a bad car. But he’s never had a bad teammate either.

   It his time he’s been a teammate for four different champions and compared very well with all of them. If you look at past results (particularly 2011) you could say that Jenson Button (when on form) is the toughest teammate he’s ever had.
   1. 

      Mark Sinclair
      9th March 2021, 16:16

      How do you work out 4 champions?

      First he teamed up with Fernando Alonso who was a champion.
      Then Heikki Kovalienen who was not a champion.
      Then Jenson Button who was a champion.
      Then Nico Rosberg, who became a champion at the end of the 2016 season, but then left, so he did not have him as a champion team mate.
      Then Valterri Bottas who is yet to be a champion.

      That makes 2.
      1. 

         Napier Railton (@napierrailton)
         9th March 2021, 17:06

         oops, my mistake, I have a bit of a blind spot with threes
      2. 

         DrG (@drgraham)
         9th March 2021, 17:29

         Well Alonso did have two…
         1. 

            ColdFly (@)
            9th March 2021, 17:37

            ;)
      3. 

         Dave (@davewillisporter)
         10th March 2021, 20:28

         Ok, point of order. Was Lewis team mates with Rosberg at the end of the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP? Yes. Was Rosberg 2016 world champion? Yes! So Lewis was team mates with 3 champions not 2. That’s just fact.
7. 

   Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
   9th March 2021, 14:28

   Rosberg was definitely a more competitive driver for Lewis than Bottas has been. Bottas is smoother and tidier but he seems to lack that little bit of extra aggression and speed. Even when he gets himself into a good position, like being on pole, he rarely seems to be able to make it stick in the race and unless something goes wrong, Lewis comes out on top.

   He actually looked like he was getting close to Lewis’ level of performance in 2019. I had higher hopes for 2020 that we might have a battle for the title but he dropped back again and was a big disappointment. I think if he found himself in a position that he had the best car, but a team mate of lesser quality than Lewis, Bottas could win a WDC. A bit like Jenson in 2009. But he’s never going to manage it with Lewis beside him.
   1. 

      Ajaxn
      10th March 2021, 0:36

      I’ve said it before and i’ll say it again. I lot happened in 2016 which contributed to Rosberg’s Championship win.

      For one Mercedes decided to swap the garages, which meant Hamilton had the crew who were formally loyal to Rosberg, where as Rosberg inherited the crew who were obviously productive for Hamilton.

      Then you had the numerous faults on Hamilton’s car, the worst of which was the DNF in Malasia. Given how close that championship was, with only 5 points in it at the end. You have to say the Gods that be, were smiling on Rosberg. Or as Hamilton said, “someone up there doesn’t want me to win”.

      Otherwise we would be looking on Hamilton as the 8th time world champion.
      1. 

         Dane
         10th March 2021, 13:02

         Yeah, but Rosberg also upped his game. He had that run of seven straight wins going back to 2015. His starts were often better than Hamilton and Rosberg never got left behind in the points meaning he kept himself in a position to win. Bottas is often left in the dust after the first races and has never looked like a contender.
8. 

   Steve Rogers (@yossarian)
   9th March 2021, 15:02

   I believe there’s one important difference that looking at the stats doesn’t show (And I’ll readily admit this is my uninformed opinion with no real evidence to back it up) Outside of Turkey Hamilton didn’t appear anywhere near his limit this year. The gap between him and Bottas looked smaller than it was because he didn’t need to push any harder to beat him, the few times Bottas got close Hamilton always found a couple of extra tenths. This was rarely the case against Rosberg, and you always felt he was actually pushing.
   That’s why I want Russel in the car, Hamilton is one of the greats of the sport but with Bottas in the other car we don’t get to see it because he doesn’t have to push.
   1. 

      petebaldwin (@)
      9th March 2021, 16:17

      Yeah that’s what I find disappointing – we’ve got one of the best ever drivers currently racing in F1 but it’s not producing any memorable moments because he’s not being challenged. When people are looking back on his career in 20 years, it’ll be his win in Brazil, his debut season and his battles with Rosberg & Massa that get talked about.

      If I was asked to pick his highlight of the last 4 seasons, I honestly don’t know what I’d say.
      1. 

         ian dearing
         9th March 2021, 17:13

         Depends what you are looking at. I’d put Turkey before overtaking a 4 x WDC at Monza. And a half a dozen other races where Hamilton has kept his tyres alive whilst others fall by the wayside. Watched plenty of races where Clark did the same.
         As for qualifying, there’s plenty to choose from; Singapore and Red Bull Ring?
         Anyone else and we would have had the three tyres at Silverstone up in the highlights. But as its Hamilton we were all as calm as he was. Same as chasing down Max in Hungary. Just a case of when; not if.
         And unless RB give Max the right car this is how it will probably continue.

         I wonder how many races Georg