Formula 1: Valtteri Bottas goes winless in 2018 after promising start

Valtteri Bottas’s 2018 Formula 1 season went from promising to extremely disappointing, as he failed to win a single race in it.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas appeared to be on his way to his first victory of the 2018 Formula 1 season in the season’s fourth race, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, following two consecutive second place finishes in the second and third races of the season, the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix, respectively.

Had he been able to pull it off, he would have shot to the top of the driver standings for the first time in his Formula 1 career, and he would have earned his first victory of the 21-race season before teammate Lewis Hamilton did.

But with under three laps remaining in the 51-lap race around the 20-turn, 3.730-mile (6.003-kilometer) Baku City Circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Bottas ran over a piece of debris, puncturing his right rear tire.

His race was over, and Hamilton ended up capitalizing. He took the lead and led only the race’s final three laps before earning the first of his 11 victories this season.

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Bottas’s season, meanwhile, only got worse from that point forward.

After taking his first pole position of the season for the Austrian Grand Prix, a race that he dominated last year after starting from the pole position, Bottas was forced to retire rather early as a result of a mechanical issue.

A few weeks later, the 29-year-old Finn had a chance to pass Hamilton for the lead and the eventual victory in the German Grand Prix, as he was driving on newer tires than Hamilton was and a safety car period had just ended, leading to a restart.

However, after driving side-by-side with Hamilton, Bottas was ordered to hold his position. He had to settle for second place.

Bottas also had to settle for second place in the Russian Grand Prix, a race that he dominated last year. He dominated the race from the pole position early on this year, but team orders forced him to give up the lead and the eventual race victory to help Hamilton.

Hamilton originally stated that he would be willing to repay the favor to Bottas later in the season, but that ultimately did not happen, and it really did not have much of a chance to happen after Hamilton clinched this year’s championship, the fifth of his Formula 1 career.

Hamilton clinched this year’s championship in the 19th race of the season, the Mexican Grand Prix, with a fourth place finish in it. Bottas, meanwhile, finished it in fifth, which is where he finished in each of the season’s final four races, including the season finale, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, another race that he dominated last season after starting from the pole position.

Even if he had wanted to, Hamilton could not have gifted Bottas a victory after he locked up his fifth career championship.

Instead, following his first season driving for Mercedes in 2017, a season during which he earned three victories, 13 podium finishes and four pole positions in 20 races, Bottas finished the 2018 season with zero victories, eight podium finishes and two pole positions.

After recording an average starting position of 3.4 and an average finishing position of 3.6 last season, Bottas recorded an average starting position of 4.0 and an average finishing position of 5.1 this season. He led only 84 laps this year after leading 187 laps last year, and he scored only 247 points this year en route to a fifth place finish in the standings after scoring 305 points last year en route to a third place finish in the standings.

Will Valtteri Bottas end his win drought in the 2019 Formula 1 season? If so, which race or races will he win? Regardless, will the 2019 season be his final season driving for Mercedes?