With each upcoming race, there’s a lot on the line for Mercedes. The gap between them and Aston Martin is declining and if Toto Wolff fails to figure out the reason for their underperformance this season, Mercedes might just end up P5 in the constructors’ championship.
It’s been 3 years since Mercedes delivered a comfortable car to race in and both the drivers and Lewis Hamilton are suffering the worst of it.
Both the Mercedes drivers are finding it difficult to score points, with this being their worst season statistically since Lewis Hamilton joined the team.
The situation in Mercedes started to change once Valtteri Bottas was replaced in the team and Hamilton lost a teammate that cared about helping the world champion. This was brought to light by none other than Peter Windsor, in his latest episode of F1 Livestream chat.
During the earlier half of his podcast, Windsor discusses why Valtteri Bottas was a better teammate for Hamilton.
While discussing Toto Wolff’s strategy, Windsor stated, “Well, put one guy on hards, or one’s on softs, or whatever, see what happens. The trouble is, they can’t really rely on their two drivers to sort of help one another, either. Not that Formula 1 teams really live and die on those things anyway, but can’t imagine George and Lewis being necessarily helpful for one another these days.”
Both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are all about trying to be the quicker driver, which is the opposite of how things were with his former teammate, Valtteri Bottas. On the move of bringing in George Russell, he said, “I mean, to me, it’s still an unanswered question why he signed George to replace Valtteri. Because Valtteri was a very good teammate to Lewis.”
Breaking down the main problem, he said, “Lewis has never really been happy with George, as we’ve said from day one, because basically, George is quicker. But it’s odd because Toto put so much into Valtteri’s career early on. So I’ve never really understood why he did that, why he replaced Valtteri because you would have thought it’d be in his interest to keep Valtteri in the team. So I never understood that one.”
Whether bringing in George Russell was a good idea or not is something only Wolff can tell. Although having Bottas would mean a better teammate, it’s a good thing that George Russell is on the team, considering he will have to bear the weight of Mercedes on his shoulders. While there is still no confirmation of who Mercedes will bring in to replace Hamilton, there are chances that we get to see new drivers on the grid.
When it comes to Mercedes bringing in drivers from their Junior program, everyone knows about Kimi Antonelli. But there is another driver who is also proving himself on the tracks and is ready for his move to F1. We are talking about Frederik Vesti, of course! While on one hand, Kimi Antonelli is yet to turn 18 to get his super license, Vesti can get his with ease as he is 22.
This year, Vesti is racing in the European Le Mans series and will also be a part of the Formula E rookie test for Mahindra in Berlin. This is where he spoke to RacingNews365 and explained his plans to drive in F1. The Danish racer told them, “F1 is still my main target, and I am a reserve driver with Mercedes right now, and I’m going to stay close and do my best to get a seat.”
He continued, “I’m really trying to focus on myself and want to be in the best seat as quickly as possible, but on my side, I know I need to continue to improve and develop as a driver. And to do that, I need to focus on myself and can’t really control what is going to happen. I can only control how I can push to the maximum and do my best.”
Mercedes has prospects for the second seat, especially in its junior league, where many drivers are being prepared to become a Mercedes world champion. For now, we can just wait to see who takes the second seat in the Silver Arrow to drive alongside George Russell.
