Toto Wolff: Valtteri Bottas ‘not an F1 phenomenon”

Toto Wolff: Valtteri Bottas ‘not an F1 phenomenon”

Valtteri Bottas with Toto Wolff

Valtteri Bottas will finally part ways with Mercedes heading into the 2022 Formula 1 season. Having replaced Nico Rosberg, the Finn driver has given his all for the Brackley-based team yet the team boss Toto Wolff feels that the 32-years-old driver is not an F1 phenomenon like the title protagonists Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.  

With Bottas next years, all attention will be towards the young and energetic Brit driver, George Russell and how he copes up with the seven-time world champion. 

What was opinionated by Toto Wolff on Valtteri Bottas? 

Toto Wolff-Mercedes
Toto Wolff-Mercedes

“I expect him to take the lead there,” said Mercedes boss Wolff. “He can bring that team forward. He’s certainly not a phenomenon like Lewis or Max), which is very rare, but recently in Turkey, for example, he drove better than the two of them.” 

Talking about George Russell next, Wolff mentioned, “What do I expect of him? That he fits in well with the Mercedes system,” Wolff told Speed Week when asked about Russell. “That means learning. It doesn’t matter whether he is slower or faster or tied with Lewis. He has to be a team player. With us, the team is the star, not a single member of it.” 

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Toto Wolff and Valtteri Bottas

It is also clear that Wolff sees Russell as a long-term successor for the much older seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Toto Wolff and George Russell
Toto Wolff and George Russell

“We are very close and we exchange our ideas every day,” Toto Wolff said when asked how long he thinks 36-year-old Hamilton will keep racing in Formula 1. “But we both know that a Formula 1 career is a moving goal. There is no date he is committed to. What is certain is that we will do the best possible job together next year as well.”

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