Toto Wolff will not be judging Valtteri Bottas on his one performance but will look at everything to decide his F1 future with Mercedes.
During the F1 German GP, Wolff detailed on the decision making process of Mercedes regarding Lewis Hamilton’s teammate, whether they are to retain Bottas or draft in the current reserve Esteban Ocon in the seat.
Wolff pretty much pinned on a decision to be taken in August but added that the announcement may not come straightaway. The Austrian though admitted that the decision is pretty tough one to take.
As such, Bottas has done a solid job ever since he came in at a short notice after Nico Rosberg’s retirement. He hasn’t budged down from a fight but Hamilton’s consistency has troubled the Finn most certainly.
Rosberg found it tough himself but managed to get the upperhand, which Bottas has done at times. It will be a big call for Mercedes considering how Ferrari and Red Bull Racing has shown faith in youngsters.
While the crunch time is on, Bottas’ results dwindled at the wrong time, with the crash in German GP and also in Hungarian GP, where he had to fight back in points – despite beating Hamilton in qualifying.
Wolff was disappointed for Bottas after Hungary but insisted that the one race will not change the course of the decision. “I am really disappointed for Bottas because he was all pumped,” said Wolff.
“I think the qualifying performance was great in Hungary and he could have easily been on pole. He wanted to do well and that went all wrong after touch with Lewis and then Leclerc.
“From then on, there is nothing to expect from anybody, you know that you have blown it. But I don’t think, we want to make it dependent on one bad day because we need to look at all the data and consider all the factors.
“That which speaks for him and is against him. I think he has a great value in the team and we want to discuss it behind closed doors and take the decision. We will look at whats the merit of having Esteban and Valtteri both with regards to risk and reward.”
The indications seems mixed at the moment, but at the same time, Bottas has spoken about Plan B and Plan C in the media, should Mercedes not go ahead with him and opt for Ocon.
While it may or may not play a big role in the decision making – or it has been made already – but Bottas did not tweet a race report after Hungarian GP, which his social team usually does after every session.
Outside Bottas and Ocon, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s name was linked as well with the seat but it was plain speculation, while Williams’ George Russell seems like ruled out for 2020 at least.
