Amid Growing Tensions Between Team Mates Across the Grid, Valtteri Bottas Showcases a Shining Example of Teamwork

The 2022 Brazilian Grand Prix gave us plenty of noteworthy incidents. However, on top of them all is the Max Verstappen-Sergio Perez incident. An extremely unbecoming move by champion Verstappen on his teammate. However, let’s take our focus away from the negative and highlight an incident that went under the radar involving Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

During the Brazilian GP sprint race qualifying, Valtteri Bottas did something that needs mentioning. The Alfa Romeo men, Zhou Guanyu and Bottas, qualified for the Sprint race in 17th and 18th, respectively. However, the two pushed themselves four places up to qualify in 13th and 14th for the race.

We’re not sure about Guanyu’s other moves, but the Chinese can credit his first overtake on Nicholas Latifi to his Finnish teammate. During the sixth lap of the sprint race, Bottas communicated an important message to Guanyu on his radio. “Tell Zhou to attack him into turn 10. Latifi is breaking early there,” Bottas communicated.

Guanyu followed Bottas’ instructions and overtook Latifi in the next lap. Whereas, the veteran driver made the move himself into Turn 10 in the 10th lap. Bottas’s years of experience speaking for itself as he guided his rookie teammate in the sprint.

Two extremely varied incidents between teammates in Brazil. One is more on the positive side of things, whereas one is extremely negative.

Read More: Toto Wolff Takes Veiled Dig at Red Bull Duo, Praising “Alpha Drivers” Lewis Hamilton & George Russell

However, the two situations aren’t comparable because the stakes between the two teams are completely different. Not just that, Sergio Perez is experiencing nothing new, even though it might be a little more disrespectful than he would like. Let us elaborate.

Sergio Perez is to Max Verstappen what Valtteri Bottas was to Lewis Hamilton

Disclaimer: We are not defending the actions of Max Verstappen in Brazil.

In the sport’s history, on most occasions, a championship-winning team has always had a favored driver. In Red Bull, sadly for Perez, it’s Max Verstappen.

In recent times, the Mercedes garage has faced similar situations. Valtteri Bottas was always the fall guy for Lewis Hamilton’s success. Looking further back, Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull days disobeyed team orders and snatched the win away from teammate Mark Webber.

This, in no way, excuses Verstappen’s public indiscretions. However, it does outline how the Dutchman is hard-wired to always be the preference in a team where he’s expected to always win.

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How bad do you think the situation between Verstappen and Perez is when other examples, like Vettel-Webber and Hamilton-Bottas, are put into perspective?