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With Valtteri Bottas’ future with Mercedes in doubt, Toto Wolff explains why the team needs to seriously consider the Finn for 2022.
There are two main candidates for a Mercedes’2022 seat next to Lewis Hamilton – Valtteri Bottas and George Russell.
When asked if Bottas already had his opportunity with the team, Wolff said this way of looking at things was “very harsh”.
“I think that’s too harsh,” the Austrian said.
“He has also had a lot of bad luck when I think about Monaco where he should have finished second on the road, and we let him down. It’s very harsh.
“And if your team-mate is a seven-time world champion, a 100-grand prix winner, obviously, that will be difficult.
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“He is a great team player, he has won multiple grands prix, has been on call all the time, 53 podium appearances, and that is a solid, very important pillar for us as a team that needs to be considered.”
Wolff was also asked if giving Russell a chance to learn from Hamilton for two years would be a good argument for hiring the young Briton.
“Yes, there is the strategy to vote, to go with jeunesse [youth], and see how George performs next to clearly the greatest race driver of all time, and whether he can take over the baton one day when Lewis decides to call it a day,” concluded Mercedes’ team boss.
