On Saturday, Valtteri Bottas denied Lewis Hamilton a chance of bagging a 100th career pole position. However, many were surprised that there were no jubilant celebrations for the Finn. Instead, most of the crew members were just standing around stoically in the garage.
On the outside, it looks really embarrassing that a team is not celebrating its own driver’s success. It almost seems as if they completely ignored the poor driver. One has to wonder, if Hamilton had grabbed pole instead, what would the team’s reaction be. To be honest, the apathetic reaction is almost like an absolute betrayal.
— Out of Context F1 (@f1nocontext) May 1, 2021
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Of course, another argument could be that when Bottas took the lead, there was still time for an upset. On the bright side, the team did radio him and offered their congratulations. Hopefully it should allay any concerns that the team is focused solely around Hamilton.
What can Valtteri Bottas do from pole position?
With two races done and dusted, Bottas needs to get back into the thick of the championship battle. He was on the podium at Bahrain, but got taken out of the race at Imola. That Imola crash was a huge point of contention, because there was a massive blame game between himself and George Russell.
mercedes when lewis is on pole vs mercedes when valtteri is on pole pic.twitter.com/x5psiCm3r5
— shiba🦋 (@shibakasuari) May 1, 2021
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Now, Bottas will want to put all that behind him and concentrate on this race. The big question is, will the Finnish driver redeem himself at the Algarve International Circuit? All he needs to do is nail the start and hope that it is better than Hamilton and Verstappen’s. From there, he can try and break away or defend heavily from Hamilton and Verstappen.
— Ville Salonen (@VilleVilsu) May 1, 2021
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Without a doubt, the onus is on Valtteri Bottas to try and prove himself. If he can try and make life difficult for Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, he may be taken a bit more seriously. Admittedly, the 31-year-old has a lot to prove to the team, the fans and even himself.