“The ideal second driver is Valtteri Bottas”– Dutch F1 expert Jack Plooij suggests Red Bull to hire Valtteri Bottas to team Max Verstappen.
Valtteri Bottas’ chapter in Mercedes is rumoured to get over at the end of this year, but the Finn race driver still has the skills to remain at any top team.
Seeing this, Ziggo Sport reporter Jack Plooij has suggested that Red Bull should hire Bottas to partner with Max Verstappen next year over Sergio Perez.
“Maybe they put Bottas next to Verstappen, no idea, but I don’t think Helmut Marko is retarded. He’s not crazy, he just keeps looking like: ‘Who do we need besides Max?’ The ideal second driver is Valtteri Bottas after all. Then why wouldn’t you get it?” he said to motorsport.com (translated by Google).
Plooij has a point; over the last four years, Bottas has been an ideal partner to him, and his docility has helped Hamilton win four straight championships even though Finn desires to lift the championship once.
Valtteri Bottas believes he has faced a lot of “unnecessary pressure” at Mercedes, due to only being given 1-year contracts by the Silver Arrows.
🗞 [Speedweek] pic.twitter.com/LueAqJfjBQ— formularacers (@formularacers_) August 11, 2021
Moreover, Hamilton himself considers Bottas to be his best teammate ever and suggests Mercedes retain him for 2022. But even Perez has done a good job so far, barring few hiccups so that it wouldn’t be fair on the Mexican.
Pleasant sights in the first half
Further, Plooij talked about some pleasant moments in the first half of the season, where the young drivers are finally starting to shine and embarking on a new era.
“Who would have thought that Lando Norris [halfway through the season] is third in the championship. And that he has suddenly become a serious boy from a Pipo the Clown. […]”
“You just see that such a boy suddenly makes a change, I like to see that. Ocon who then suddenly wins, Gasly who just does really well again. There are so many fun things to see.”
