“The ideal second driver is Valtteri Bottas”– Dutch F1 expert rates Valtteri Bottas as ideal teammate for Max Verstappen over Sergio Perez

Tanish Chachra | 13/08/2021
"The ideal second driver is Valtteri Bottas"– Dutch F1 expert rates Valtteri Bottas as ideal teammate for Max Verstappen over Sergio Perez

“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.

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.”

Post Edited By: Tanish Chachra
Max Verstappen Mercedes Red Bull Sergio Perez Valtteri Bottas

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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