Formula 1: Valtteri Bottas can become a thorn in Lewis Hamilton’s side

Valtteri Bottas has what it takes to become a thorn in the side of Lewis Hamilton throughout the remainder of the 2019 Formula 1 season.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas entered the 2019 Formula 1 season coming off of a 21-race 2018 season during which he was unable to win one race. Meanwhile, teammate Lewis Hamilton won 11 races en route to securing his fifth career championship.

But Bottas opened up the 2019 season, his third season driving for Mercedes, by dominating the Australian Grand Prix, at which point it appeared as though he had what it takes to be a legitimate championship contender. He won the race by a whopping 20.886 seconds over Hamilton in second place.

This winning margin was the largest winning margin in a Formula 1 race since Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg won the 2016 Russian Grand Prix by 25.022 seconds over Hamilton in second place.

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Additionally, Bottas did not even start the Australian Grand Prix from the pole position, and he still managed to win it by this huge margin. He started it in second place, and his winning margin was the largest winning margin for a driver who did not start a race from the pole position since Hamilton started the 2014 British Grand Prix in sixth and went on to win it by 30.135 seconds over Bottas in second.

However, Hamilton responded by winning the season’s second and third races, the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Chinese Grand Prix, respectively, comfortably ahead of Bottas in second place to take a six-point lead (68 to 62) over his teammate in the driver standings.

Following the season’s first three races, it appeared as though Hamilton had gotten into a championship-caliber rhythm and that the Brackley-based team as a whole would be unstoppable, as not since Williams pulled it off in the 1992 season had a team opened up a season by recording three consecutive 1-2 finishes.

Mercedes continued their dominance by becoming the first team in Formula 1 history to open up a season with four consecutive 1-2 finishes, as they recorded yet another 1-2 finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. However, it was Bottas doubling his 2019 season win total ahead of Hamilton in second place.

As a result, both the 29-year-old Finn and the 34-year-old Briton have earned two victories so far this season, and they have both recorded two second place finishes. Bottas leads Hamilton by one point (87 to 86) in the driver standings as a result of the fact that he recorded the fastest lap of the Australian Grand Prix.

If the 2019 constructor championship battle ends up being dominated by the Silver Arrows like it has been so far, as they currently lead Scuderia Ferrari in second place in the constructor standings by a whopping 74 points (173 to 99), and the driver championship battle ends up effectively being a test of which Mercedes driver can beat the other one, Bottas has everything it takes to be a thorn in Hamilton’s side.

Make no mistake about it; after a disappointing 2018 season, Bottas spent the offseason between the 2018 and 2019 seasons focusing on what he could do to have a far more successful 2019 season, and he has come out of the gates almost looking like a different driver.

Additionally, he bounced back and retook the lead of the driver standings after many thought that Hamilton had essentially shown that his season-opening victory was a fluke by responding with two consecutive victories.

The 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons were three seasons that resembled what we have seen so far in the 2019 season as far as Mercedes’ dominance is concerned. These three seasons were seasons during which the driver championship was effectively decided by which of Mercedes’ two drivers was superior.

After finishing in second place in the driver standings to Hamilton in the 2014 and 2015 seasons by 67 points (384 to 317) and 59 points (381 to 322), respectively, Nico Rosberg came back a more focused driver, and he took the fight to Hamilton in the 2016 season to win his first career championship by five points (385 to 380) over him.

Bottas hasn’t started out the 2019 season quite like Rosberg started out the 2016 season, but the idea of Mercedes running away with this year’s constructor championship coupled with the fact that Bottas has been on par with Hamilton through the season’s first four races is a clear indication that he has what it takes to take the fight to the five-time champion and to be a thorn in his side much like the 33-year-old German did and was three years ago.

Will Valtteri Bottas be able to sustain the strength that he has shown through the first four races of the 2019 Formula 1 season throughout the remaining 17 races of the season? Will he be able to beat Lewis Hamilton and secure his first career championship by the time the season ends in early December?