Hakkinen tells Mercedes team to keep Bottas next to Hamilton
Aug.25 - Mika Hakkinen, who is involved in the management of Valtteri Bottas' career, has defended the Mercedes driver amid strong rumours he is about to lose his seat.
"If you look at the facts, the results in all the years Valtteri has driven with Lewis (Hamilton) - what the team has achieved with these two drivers - you can't beat that.
"It's incredible, it's been brilliant," Hakkinen, also Finnish and the world champion of 1998 and 1999, told the German broadcaster RTL.
Nonetheless, it is widely believed that Bottas, 31, will be replaced by the young Mercedes junior George Russell.
But Hakkinen says those who think Russell is clearly a better driver than Bottas are wide of the mark.
"He (Bottas) is a brilliant driver. He's being criticised too much. Far too much," said the 52-year-old former McLaren driver.
"Driving next to Lewis is not child's play. Being talented and fast is not enough. The experience these people have is just incredible.
"You don't learn that on the internet or from books," Hakkinen smiled.
Bottas said last weekend that Hamilton wants him to stay in 2022, and Hakkinen thinks the same feeling will be doing the rounds within Mercedes.
"Within the team, I'm sure they're saying 'We have a fantastic racing driver here'," Hakkinen said.
"We have a saying that if a clock is working, you don't open it up to try to make it better. You just let it run," he added.
Hakkinen said both Mercedes and Hamilton have come to rely on Bottas as a fully reliable and competitive driver - unlike championship rival Max Verstappen's current Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
"At Red Bull, everything depends on Max at the moment," he said.
"I like Sergio, he's a great guy, but he has to get closer to Max. It must be at least two tenths and no further away, otherwise the car won't develop fast enough over a weekend.
"To win the championship, you need two drivers who score consistently, who push themselves with close laptimes in order to develop the car. Every grand prix counts," Hakkinen insisted.
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
And yes i'm on 20% but that's not why i'm saying all this lol
Shrop', true Mika's in for a cut but he makes a lot more sense than Ralf in a separate article. The MB business model has been very successful...road cars, race cars, image, etc.. Well excepting those smelly diesel C-Class Jaxis. Speaking of smelly Jaxis, did you chase away Jaxafart or is he busy agonizing over his next poem?
Hes been recalled to the secure unit im afraid, it was always going to happen, so no more jax Bull for a while, im curious about Totos words that he doesn't have to be head of the f1 team, and by that i don't mean team f1award, wouldn't surprise me if hes lining up an exit end of the year with lewis, odds on though lewis will wear something outrageous in spas press photos , Belgium , -home of the french fry apparently, so maybe hell dress as a chip , after all hes had one on his shoulder since being in f1 . sorry had to do it , i just cant help myself sometimes ...
You really are incorrigible, no that's not fair, just the king of Sarcland. LOL
Serious stuff. There is a rumour that MB F1 is on the market. Perhaps the reason for the Tote's reticence? Let's bulk it up a bit.
Course Merc f1 is for sale, totos gotta buy up some more shares in AM to pay for his defence costs when the fraud squad catch up with him, actually i started the rumour it was up for sale , i was getting my hair done by Lewises stylist and he gave me the nod .
Belgium is the home of the worlds best chips!
Not french fries! Back in the day ( 1970s pre internet), Holland was famous for uncensored lads magazines
On Sundays Dutch and Belgians would cross their borders. The Dutch bought chips and the Belgians bought porn magazines.
Also on Sundays, our racing heroes risked and indeed, lost their live.
So much has improved; particularly car construction and driver safety
I leave you to makeup your own mind on internet porn and McDo’s french fries. For sure, they are not chips!
Yep, chips and a wank...every Brit's dream. LOL, no really, LOL
Definitely lol!
sorry just making a note about something, nope i gotta look something up lol
Ahhhh that was satisfying, now what were we talking about oh yes chips lol