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Valtteri Bottas - excited to see what this kid can do


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#101 DutchQuicksilver

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Posted 19 May 2013 - 10:19

Rubens didn't beat Maldonado convincingly.

Maldonado achieved better average starting position during the year.
If not Hamilton's dumb move in Monaco, Maldonado would've beaten Barrichello in points.
Maldonado outraced Rubens 4 races in row on demandig tracks between Belgium and Japan. Rubens had never outraced Pastor 4 races in row.

Barrichello was way past his prime in 2011, seemed to already know he was out for 2012. If he was still motivated and a few years younger he would have beaten Maldonado. Don't forget, he beat the highly rated Hülkenberg fairly convincible in 2010.

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#102 xman

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Posted 19 May 2013 - 11:26

I don't think Bottas nor Maldonado did particularly bad last weekend, the car is just a dog and they don't understand the tyres either.
I think Bottas has done well, no stupid mistakes or crashes and brings the car home. On qualifying he's been on par with Maldonado, very similar laptimes. If and when Williams improve their car, both drivers will improve too.

Team quotes:

Pastor Maldonado - 14th: "The pace was unfortunately not in the car today. We made one more pitstop than we hoped to because I was given a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pitlane but overall we did the best we could. We now need to regroup, work hard and prepare for Monaco."

Valtteri Bottas - 16th: "I couldn't feel the grip in the car and we were sliding a lot from the start which meant we were hard on the tyres. We made a three-stop strategy work but in the end, Pastor switched to a four-stop race and that seemed to be better. We're not where we want to be, so there is still a lot of work to do."

Mike Coughlan, Technical Director: "We knew it would be a difficult race today but we can draw a slight positive from the three places Pastor gained from his grid position. We were suffering with high tyre degradation and so made the decision to switch Pastor onto a four-stop strategy. We committed to a three-stop with Valtteri, but we then lost a lot of time. We need to check the data as the degradation on his car was unusual compared to the pace we had on Friday. Everyone at Williams knows what needs to be done to turn things around and we need to keep working hard. We'd also like to thank all our fans and partners for their continued support."



#103 turssi

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Posted 19 May 2013 - 11:47

I really would've liked to see Bottas in last year's car.


I dont think you need a good car to shine.

Remember Bianchi, Hulk, Vettel. If the guy is good, ppl will know.

#104 Anderis

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Posted 19 May 2013 - 19:46

Barrichello was way past his prime in 2011, seemed to already know he was out for 2012. If he was still motivated and a few years younger he would have beaten Maldonado. Don't forget, he beat the highly rated Hülkenberg fairly convincible in 2010.

1. I thought we were talking about facts, not "ifs", weren't we?
2. There's no way Barrichello already knew in mid 2011 he was out for 2012. F1 drivers don't give up so early. Williams signed Senna during the winter. Some other teams had free seats as well. Rubens wanted to race in F1 in 2012. He was motivated to stay there and he knew he needed to beat Maldonado convincingly to increase his chance. He failed. Wheter it was due to him being past his prime, or Maldonado being better than expected, it's debatable.
3. Even if we assume Barichello was past his prime, Maldonado was before his prime. He was not only in his rookie season. He had less experience with F1 car than Hulkenberg, di Resta, Bottas, Bianchi or Gutierrez when making his F1 debut. He wasn't a test driver earlier anywhere and even during his first winter test session he experienced many mechanical problems with car that limited his mileage.

I dont think you need a good car to shine.

Remember Bianchi, Hulk, Vettel. If the guy is good, ppl will know.

Yes and no.

Vettel had never had such a poor car in F1 like FW35.

Neither had the Hulk, apart from first few races in 2010 when actually many people expressed some doubt about his talent.

Bianchi is different case, but what allowed him to shine was that his car was better than anyone expected before the season. I still think it's too early to say that Bianchi shined too. His team-mate is quite poor as for F1 standards and he enjoyed a car with perofrmance edge over Caterham early this season. Since Catterham have upped their game a bit, Pic is beating him quite regularly. In my opinion Bianchi wasn't more impressive than Bottas. I think both of them are doing good job.

#105 Flyhigh

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Posted 19 May 2013 - 20:48

1. I thought we were talking about facts, not "ifs", weren't we?
2. There's no way Barrichello already knew in mid 2011 he was out for 2012. F1 drivers don't give up so early. Williams signed Senna during the winter. Some other teams had free seats as well. Rubens wanted to race in F1 in 2012. He was motivated to stay there and he knew he needed to beat Maldonado convincingly to increase his chance. He failed. Wheter it was due to him being past his prime, or Maldonado being better than expected, it's debatable.
3. Even if we assume Barichello was past his prime, Maldonado was before his prime. He was not only in his rookie season. He had less experience with F1 car than Hulkenberg, di Resta, Bottas, Bianchi or Gutierrez when making his F1 debut. He wasn't a test driver earlier anywhere and even during his first winter test session he experienced many mechanical problems with car that limited his mileage.


Yes and no.

Vettel had never had such a poor car in F1 like FW35.

Neither had the Hulk, apart from first few races in 2010 when actually many people expressed some doubt about his talent.

Bianchi is different case, but what allowed him to shine was that his car was better than anyone expected before the season. I still think it's too early to say that Bianchi shined too. His team-mate is quite poor as for F1 standards and he enjoyed a car with perofrmance edge over Caterham early this season. Since Catterham have upped their game a bit, Pic is beating him quite regularly. In my opinion Bianchi wasn't more impressive than Bottas. I think both of them are doing good job.



You and others here overate qualifying too much. Maldonado has been very quick in qualies from the beginning there is no doubt about that, but he has been a below mediocre racer since the beginning and has not show much improvement.


#106 Anderis

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Posted 19 May 2013 - 21:29

You and others here overate qualifying too much. Maldonado has been very quick in qualies from the beginning there is no doubt about that, but he has been a below mediocre racer since the beginning and has not show much improvement.

Ah, same old same old. First of all, there is not much in my previous posts to suggest I overrate qualifying. In which way I overrate it? By pointing that Maldonado had better average grid position than Rubens? Or by what? Really...

If Maldonado has always been "below mediocre" racer, then why (oh, how much I hate to quote myself, it suggests that the person I'm writing too didn't read my previous post with understanding or that there is some serious misunderstanding between us):

If not Hamilton's dumb move in Monaco, Maldonado would've beaten Barrichello in points.
Maldonado outraced Rubens 4 races in row on demandig tracks between Belgium and Japan. Rubens had never outraced Pastor 4 races in row.


OK, he wasn't efficient enough in 2012 due to the amount of mistakes he made. But in 2011 he was quite OK. Certainly not "below mediocre".

#107 Flyhigh

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 00:19

Ah, same old same old. First of all, there is not much in my previous posts to suggest I overrate qualifying. In which way I overrate it? By pointing that Maldonado had better average grid position than Rubens? Or by what? Really...

If Maldonado has always been "below mediocre" racer, then why (oh, how much I hate to quote myself, it suggests that the person I'm writing too didn't read my previous post with understanding or that there is some serious misunderstanding between us):


OK, he wasn't efficient enough in 2012 due to the amount of mistakes he made. But in 2011 he was quite OK. Certainly not "below mediocre".



The overall tone of your posts and to really compare Maldonado to Barrichello making it seem that Barrichello was lucky, and then saying he wasn't efficient enough 2012, oh, really? The guy finished what 3-4 races on points, with a car capable of finishing every race inside the points. I know, I know, the win right? That was what I kept hearing in the Williams thread everytime, maybe he can go to the rest of his career resting on that and all the other crap performances can be considered "not efficient enough"

Williams made a mistake this year I believe by going with one rookie and an erratic driver such Maldonado, having a driver like Barrichello last year would have done wonders to the team.

#108 motorhead

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 07:02

I dont think you need a good car to shine.

Remember Bianchi, Hulk, Vettel. If the guy is good, ppl will know.




Quali 3-2 for Bottas
Races 3-2 for Bottas
Races when both drivers finished 2-1 for Maldonado


I think Bottas has done well in his first 5 races

#109 Shiroo

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 07:23

decent start, but still max B-class driver. Maybe the car is just shitty and we can't see great things from him, yet he is doing pretty fine vs rather way more experienced driver that have a win to his name

#110 DS27

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 08:04

If the Williams was as good as last year, everyone would be saying how impressive he was. It never ceases to amaze me how people can't look past the limitations of the car.

Edited by DS27, 20 May 2013 - 08:05.


#111 Shiroo

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 08:31

If the Williams was as good as last year, everyone would be saying how impressive he was. It never ceases to amaze me how people can't look past the limitations of the car.

it is simply hard to look past the limits of the car, cause Williams is so bad, that it isn't car good enough to fight other midfielders atm, and not bad enough to fight the very back of the grid. it's simply only team-mate fight atm, so it is hard to say how good Bottas is. And he isn't going bad vs Maldonado, but Pastor isn't somehow "badass driver".
So it is decent vs Pastor, and we simply can't rate how good the guy is, cause he simply has no one to fight versus. And Williams atm finish only ahead of other midfield teams, when their opponent have major **** up or some technical problem

So in my opinion, we can say now only, that he is doing decent if we compare to Pastor

Edited by Shiroo, 20 May 2013 - 08:31.


#112 Anderis

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 10:08

The overall tone of your posts and to really compare Maldonado to Barrichello making it seem that Barrichello was lucky, and then saying he wasn't efficient enough 2012, oh, really? The guy finished what 3-4 races on points, with a car capable of finishing every race inside the points. I know, I know, the win right? That was what I kept hearing in the Williams thread everytime, maybe he can go to the rest of his career resting on that and all the other crap performances can be considered "not efficient enough"

Sorry, I can't understand what point you are trying to make. I can't see much relevance to what I was writing about either.

If the Williams was as good as last year, everyone would be saying how impressive he was. It never ceases to amaze me how people can't look past the limitations of the car.

:up:

During his 5 first races in F1, after a full year without racing at all, in terms of raw speed Bottas at least matches his team-mate, who, in terms of raw speed, was quicker than his both previous team-mates in F1, he makes not many mistakes and doesn't show any other major flaws with his driving. What more can you expect from a rookie, really? Discounting him as a future champion at this point makes no sense, really.

#113 yr

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 16:57

Some nice words from Claire Williams:

Q: Your rookie Valtteri Bottas: what can you say about him so far?
CW: He is so great. Cool and calm. He is a typical Finn.

Q: Frank was always known to prefer a certain type of driver - a real racer who has all eyes on the track and not distracted by the politics. Is Valtteri his man?
CW: Yes, he is. I think we definitely have a future world champion at hand - but of course we have to give him the car to allow him to prove his talent. He has done a good job so far. He has finished every race, made up positions with great overtaking manoeuvres, and is giving strong feedback to the engineers in order to improve the car.

#114 Orrelto

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Posted 20 May 2013 - 21:37

At this stage, I have to believe Williams must be regretting bowing to pressure from Toto Wolff to replace Bruno with Valtteri - even when sponsorship is removed from the equasion.


Last year Maldonano was hailed as one of the best qualifiers. Qualifying is 3-2 to Bottas and so are the races. I'm sure Bottas has a lot to learn but if Williams were as good as last year, Bottas would be the next coming. Such is the world of F1 - people can't see past the car.

#115 FirstWatt

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Posted 21 May 2013 - 07:20

Senna had quite some problems in qualifying, and Maldonado sure is quick in qualy.

But in most races, Senna impressed me more than Maldonado.

For me, Bottas was overhyped, and Senna not that bad as some may suggest.

#116 BoschKurve

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Posted 21 May 2013 - 18:32

Senna had quite some problems in qualifying, and Maldonado sure is quick in qualy.

But in most races, Senna impressed me more than Maldonado.

For me, Bottas was overhyped, and Senna not that bad as some may suggest.


I don't think Senna was anywhere near as bad as has been implied. The deck was stacked against him from the start, and he never had any real chance to succeed. Bottas was a forgone conclusion, and Senna was just keeping the seat warm for him for 2013. It is what it is though. I do think Bottas is better than Maldonado. Seeing a lineup of Bottas and Senna would have been more interesting to me personally. Once the PDVSA money goes, Maldonado will find himself hitching a ride back to Venezuela, or to another race series.

Edited by BoschKurve, 21 May 2013 - 18:59.


#117 BRG

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Posted 21 May 2013 - 18:45

Once the PDVSA money goes, Maldonado will find himself hitching a ride back to Columbia, or to another race series.

Want to try that one again? :lol:

#118 BoschKurve

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Posted 21 May 2013 - 19:00

Want to try that one again? :lol:


:kiss:

I don't know why I was thinking about Columbia. LOL

Thanks. :up:

#119 Velocifer

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Posted 21 May 2013 - 19:56

If the Williams was as good as last year, everyone would be saying how impressive he was. It never ceases to amaze me how people can't look past the limitations of the car.

Me too. It's truly amazing.

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#120 Jimisgod

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Posted 22 May 2013 - 09:28

:kiss:

I don't know why I was thinking about Columbia. LOL

Thanks. :up:


Once you've seen one hot headed but quick South American driver, you've seen them all...

#121 Santuri9

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 13:44

Outqualifying maldonado despite it veing his first time in monaco (I'm aware maldo had some problems but the stopwatch doesnt lie)

#122 Risil

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 13:49

(I'm aware maldo had some problems but the stopwatch doesnt lie)


What does this mean

#123 Molo19

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 13:52

I was surprised by Bottas. Half expected him to be eliminated in Q1. No experience of Monaco from previous years let alone wet conditions.

#124 Santuri9

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 14:13

What does this mean


Means that maldo may well be faster but at the end of the day the numbers are what they are. E.g. in 10 years time people will look and say he outq maldo, they wont remember anything else.


#125 Risil

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 14:21

I don't remember who outqualified who in 2003.

#126 Santuri9

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 14:26

I don't remember who outqualified who in 2003.


Haha neither do I

I was mightily disappointed by pastor. Was expecting him to make it into q3 :/

#127 olliek88

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 19:19

Credit where credits due, BOTTAS has the perfect escape road recovery technique.

https://vine.co/v/bVvTWYI1OAg

#128 darkkis

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 19:27

Credit where credits due, BOTTAS has the perfect escape road recovery technique.

https://vine.co/v/bVvTWYI1OAg

Wow :up:

Btw Bottas told to MTV3 he lost a place or few in qualifying due to slower car infront of him.. which was infact.. His teammate. :lol:

#129 Wander

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Posted 25 May 2013 - 19:37

He's got the car control down. Hopefully he has a good race tomorrow.

#130 Santuri9

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 08:18

12th place in Monaco! Wasn't involved in any incidents. Lost 4 positions in the pits but should have overtaken hulk at the end of the race.
Overall a solid performance considering it was his first time in monaco.

#131 Vieras

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 18:31

Almost all of his races can be summed as: Good solid performance but nothing spectacular.

#132 turssi

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 20:56

Almost all of his races can be summed as: Good solid performance but nothing spectacular.


Sounds like NicoR when he was at Williams.

#133 noikeee

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:06

Credit where credits due, BOTTAS has the perfect escape road recovery technique.

https://vine.co/v/bVvTWYI1OAg


If that had failed he'd have looked like a total clown, fair play for having the balls to try it and pull it off. :up:

#134 EthanM

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:10

I wanted to get excited about Bottas but I never seem to ... he just fades

#135 Pothead4Philosopher

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:19

I wanted to get excited about Bottas but I never seem to ... he just fades


To be honest, Valtteri does not have the equipment to make anything exiting. He is doing a good job for a rookie with what he has.

#136 Lone

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:22

I wanted to get excited about Bottas but I never seem to ... he just fades

In a **** car he out qualifies and finishes the races in front of his teammate in his rookie season. I Grant that he's not a kamikaze clueless driver like Perez, Maldonado or Grosjean but in My eyes that's a good thing.


#137 Myrvold

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:22

Sounds like NicoR when he was at Williams.


NicoR had some races that he stood out in.

#138 noikeee

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:24

NicoR had some races that he stood out in.


The Williams was much quicker then.

#139 Anderis

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:27

I think he is the best performing rookie since Hamilton. I wish Williams had him in the race seat last year.

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#140 Elloh

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:28

Hard to impress in that car, all he can do is to try to beat his much more experienced teammate.
People are impressed by Bianchi, but he has Chilton as teammate who isnt really a good benchmark.

#141 EthanM

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:35

To be honest, Valtteri does not have the equipment to make anything exiting. He is doing a good job for a rookie with what he has.



In a **** car he out qualifies and finishes the races in front of his teammate in his rookie season. I Grant that he's not a kamikaze clueless driver like Perez, Maldonado or Grosjean but in My eyes that's a good thing.



I don't know. Bianchi seems more impressive to me in a similarly shite car. Bottas comes across more as a Kova in his Renault days type.

#142 noikeee

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Posted 27 May 2013 - 21:39

I don't know. Bianchi seems more impressive to me in a similarly shite car. Bottas comes across more as a Kova in his Renault days type.


Seriously? You don't remember Kova's first half of the season, people were calling for his head mid-season as he was making so many mistakes? Bottas has been far more consistent, has he made a single mistake actually? In pace they may be similar yeah but that's not the whole story, with everyone going for a delta I'm not sure just how much can we learn about everyone's pace anyway, everyone just seems very equalized (albeit the top drivers are at the front of the championship as always).

I am not convinced Bottas is a future champion but his quiet steady start is definitely promising.

#143 Zava

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:11

excited...to see him go reverse tomorrow. :p :well:
great job!

#144 jrg19

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:12

Really good to watch, hopefully a nice road block for Lewis and Seb tomorrow.

#145 V3TT3L

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:13

:up: Finish Purebreed.

Great driver in slippery conditions.

#146 Vickyy

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:16

superb job Bottas!!

#147 2ms

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:20

Was he lucky on setup or what? It cant ONLY be his driving. Were there lot of updates for this weekend, for example?

#148 Longtimefan

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:21

Superb job indeed!

I'm hoping it rains a bit, he might not drop back so fast.


#149 xman

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:22

Superb job from Bottas. He put great laps when it mattered, in all sessions. I'm seriously impressed, very mature drive in the wet.

#150 Vesuvius

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Posted 08 June 2013 - 18:24

Was he lucky on setup or what? It cant ONLY be his driving. Were there lot of updates for this weekend, for example?


Valtteri is known to be superb in wet conditions! Williams also had lots of updates, they went back to old nose etc.