Bottas is staying at MB as long as Hamilton is there.
Based on all of the comments that Toto has made the past few days, it sounds like they were
1. waiting for Kimi to announce his retirement
2. Bottas to announce he's going to Alfa
3. and then Mercedes announce they signed George.
They didn't want to pull a Ferrari with Vettel and announce someone isn't returning until that person announced were they were going first.
Bottas to Alfa is convenient, but implausible. Kimi is there as a dev driver and Bottas is not a dev driver. This is not considering a move from the MB family to the Ferrari side of the paddock.
Hamilton would much rather prefer to have Bottas then George and Hamilton has 2 more seasons at most. Then you get a George Bottas team that makes sense. Hamilton wants 1 more title to take the record. If he doesn’t get it in 2 years he is out. Let’s not go into the psychological aspects of the MB car not being dominant…. He either wins or walks. There is no other option. Hence why I don’t see it.
My one lap of Zandvoort
I'd been in The Netherlands on business for a week and had taken my own Lotus so I could fill the boot with good farm cheese that I would sell in the pub on getting home.. Then for the weekend I dossed down on a friend's couch in Amsterdam and we talked motor-racing. One evening -- before we hit the bars -- he said "Let's go to Zandvoort." "Turn here, turn there, etc". Then we came to a gate. He hopped out, opened the gate and we were on the track 😎 I drove a lap in the dark with him saying things like "left, fast" "right, slow" and so on. I hadn't the faintest idea of where we were. Back out through the gate before anyone reacted to us. 👍
On the way home I had the square four engine of his Suzuki RG500 in the passenger footwell to be dropped off for a rebuild in Kent. I also learned that The Netherlands has a "Priority to the Right" convention. I knew that for France but it came as a surprise. Luckily, Rob told me, it's very rarely observed and no-one relies on it.
I also learned that The Netherlands has a "Priority to the Right" convention. I knew that for France but it came as a surprise. Luckily, Rob told me, it's very rarely observed and no-one relies on it.
Does France still observe this? I remember driving a big old Cadillac down to the south of France way back when and getting a fright when a tractor pulled out in front of us 😲.
Was your lap recently? I was wondering how the banking feels.
How cool does Zandvoort look? The banking and elevation changes and gravel is going to make for a really really challenging track though the narrowness may make it a little difficult to overtake. Hope @Robert-Jan and our other Dutchies are out there with a beer and an orange shirt right now
Hope @Robert-Jan and our other Dutchies are out there with a beer and an orange shirt right now
So Kimi is out having tested positive for COVID, does that mean that he also misses next weeks GP in Italy?
If so then F1 could have a little taster day at Monza;
Bottas to run the Alfa
Russell to try the Merc
Alex Albon to try the Williams
if they don’t like the test days they don’t swap around
😁 😁 😁
