© Steve Etherington for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Toto Wolff says Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will both be given an opportunity to fight for the championship at the beginning of the season.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff assures everyone that the team will not be giving preferential treatment to either of their drivers when the season starts.
“That’s due to the performance,” explained Wolff.
“Both drivers will get the same opportunities at the beginning of the year. We want to give them the opportunity to fight for the world championship.”
And while Ferrari seems to be extending the same opportunity to their 2020 drivers Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc, another title contender, Red Bull, seems to be focusing on their star driver Max Verstappen. Wolff, however, believes Verstappen’s young team-mate Alex Albon will not gladly accept a no. 2 position within the team.
“The young Albon also wants to make a name for himself,” explains Wolff.
“You can never assume that a situation with a number one and a number two driver works, because every driver has the ambition to win. They wouldn’t be an F1 driver if they didn’t have that.”
Whatever the case may be, Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko believes the fight for the title in 2020 will be between his team and Mercedes.
“We expect the fight to be between us [Red Bull] and Mercedes,” said Marko.
“In our opinion, Ferrari is not at our level to be among the front runners.”
Sources: motorsport-total.com, F1-insider.com
