Formula 1: Bottas stays with Mercedes 🎥
TRANSFERS TO THE END OF THE SUMMER BREAK Valtteri Bottas will remain in the world champion Mercedes team in 2020. Nico Hülkenberg will have to make way for Frenchman Esteban Ocon at Renault. And Red Bull is already making a change in Belgium. After the four-week summer break, the Formula 1 World Championship continues this weekend with the Belgian GP. Until the beginning of December, [...]
After the four-week summer break, the Formula 1 World Championship continues this weekend with the Belgian GP. Nine Grands Prix are still on the schedule until the beginning of December.
Bottas is the ideal team player
At least as exciting as the question of the 2019 world champion, who will probably be Lewis Hamilton again, is that of the driver lineup for 2020. Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport announced in Belgium in the run-up to the race that the team had pulled its option on Valtteri Bottas. The 30-year-old Finn joined Mercedes from Williams in 2017.
Bottas is currently second in the drivers' standings with 188 points. During his two-and-a-half years with the team so far, he has scored five wins and ten pole positions.
The team manager gives the following reasons for the contract extension.
Toto Wolff: "We set Valtteri the challenge for 2019 of being even stronger than he was in the first half of the 2018 season, and he succeeded in doing that in the first races of the year. Although he experienced his most successful start to the season so far, he is still hungry and determined to improve further and raise his level once again. His results are no fluke: he has been an integral part of winning the world championship for the past two years. His teamwork with Lewis has been exemplary and he has shown real strength of character in dealing with setbacks."
Renault brings in its former protégé
Esteban Ocon was also up for discussion. The 22-year-old Frenchman had two good seasons with Sahara Force India (136 points in total, eighth in the 2017 world championship) before switching to Mercedes as a reserve driver for 2019. He is now eligible to contest Grands Prix again with the Renault F1 Team. Even before he joined F1, he was sponsored by Renault.
Ocon replaces Nico Hülkenberg in his compatriots' team. The German regrets the change of driver, but is apparently not worried about his future in Formula 1, which could continue at HaasF1, where the places of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean are wobbly.
Driver swap at the Red Bull teams
Red Bull Racing has already made one change for the Belgian GP. Pierre Gasly, who has not been very convincing alongside Max Verstappen (two wins this season), will be replaced by Alexander Albon. The Briton with Thai roots (or vice versa) will now be allowed to prove his talent, which he hinted at in the first half of the season at Toro Rosso, in a top team with material capable of winning. Meanwhile, the Frenchman returns to the Italian sister team. Red Bull Racing wants to evaluate in the nine remaining races whether Albon is the right man for 2020 alongside Max Verstappen.
If you don't know Albon yet, you can learn more about him in this recent interview with German subtitles.
