very different tbh. Mercedes didn't exactly handle the Lewis/Nico pairing well, either. But the main difference is that both Lewis and Nico knew it would be absolute career suicide to leave the team when any other car would mean fighting for scraps. But it was anything but harmonious and they didn't handle it any better than RB have done. Most of the time the problems tend to come from the drivers anyway and whether or not the management can appease them is often down to luck.
Regardless, Lewis/Bottas also worked because the car was so far ahead. When they had competition, Bottas stumbled and they were lucky that Lewis pulled through for them. Only question is how long they feel that will still be the case
Lucky Lewis pulled.. that is showing a bias. That's why Lewis is there.. its more an expectation then luck that he is able to (not unlike RB expect that of Max, Ferrari expect of Charles, what McLaren was hoping for with Ricciardo, what Renault and Ferrari expected of Fernando) - even Lando pulled out a couple of times this year - getting the car to finish better then whats expected. That's where the truly greats shine on Sundays vs. the also ran. Its finding that extra bit in races to bring home the points and/or results when its just not perfect for them.
Is Bottas a great.. absolutely not, just as Nico is not a great. That doesn't take away that they are excellent and get/got close enough to Lewis that its hard for competitors to take a championship away from them cause no other team at the front of the grid have such a good pairing delivering nearly EVERY time out. That ability to count on BOTH of your drivers 90% of the time that is a HUGE factor in continued success.
To break that up for NO REASON is just mad. Its a combination of everything that makes the machine work so flawlessly. Taking out any one piece can't break down the success so quickly.
If Ricciardo had not left RB, their success would have been way more and even threatened Mercedes far into problems with strat that could have given RB far more wins then they have with Max alone the past 2yr + 4 races.
Edited by Paco, 12 May 2021 - 16:45.
and slipping back race to race as Lewis gets better and better as a result of "harmonious" and "trusting" environment at Mercedes. Max is losing 3/4 with the better car, he's realizing its more then the best car to win consistently every time out. He'll learn to cope with that extra pressure of expectation EVERY time now, not just 2-3x a year. He's flustered already yet Lewis has had to cope with that since his 1st race hundreds of times in a row. 
