Formula 1: Nobody is asking the most obvious question
By Asher Fair
Nobody seems to be questioning why the huge incident in the most recent Formula 1 race at Imola even had a chance to occur.
This year’s Formula 1 race at Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, the second of 23 races of the 2021 season, saw multiple turning points throughout, but perhaps none were more notable than the huge red flag-triggering collision between Valtteri Bottas and George Russell.
On lap 32 of the 63-lap race around the 21-turn, 3.05-mile (4.908-kilometer) road course in Imola, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Russell’s Williams had a big run on Bottas’s Mercedes for ninth place going into turn one, and he had DRS assistance to boot.
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Unfortunately, he got onto a wet patch, sending his FW43B spinning into the W12.
A massive collusion ensued, leaving both drivers infuriated with one another. Both drivers placed blame on the other.
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At the end of the day, it was Russell who apologized and realized that much of the blame belonged on his shoulders.
Additionally, Russell’s post-crash line about Bottas driving the way he did only because Russell happens to be Russell, who many believe is in contention to take Bottas’s seat at Mercedes next year, certainly won’t sit well with a lot of people.
Several questions were asked after the race to both drivers, but one of them was never presented. Yet it is one that everybody was and still is thinking.
“Valtteri, what in the world are you doing battling for position with a Williams?”
Why is a driver who competes for the seven-time reigning world champions not only competing with but needing to defend against a driver for a team that have already effectively thrown in the towel on the 2021 season in favor of 2022 development?
Let’s add that the inferior team in this comparison have scored just one point in the last 47 races going back to 2018 — and that one point came on a technicality when another team’s two drivers were penalized after the race.
Why was this accident even possible?
Even with Russell primarily to blame for the incident, Bottas played a role in it. So given the fact that he was even there, there’s no way he comes out of this mess looking a whole lot better than Russell.
And to quote Bottas himself, “to whom it may concern…”, this does more harm to Bottas’s chances of remaining with the Silver Arrows in 2022 than it does to Russell’s chances of being promoted. The fact that this is even a discussion proves it.
Of course, it’s never a question that is ever going to be asked. And it shouldn’t be — not just because no news agency is going to pay a reporter to go up to him and ask such a blatantly critical question, but because realistically, there is no legitimate answer regarding why he was so slow and unable to pull away, even when compared to one of the slowest cars on the grid.
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Will Bottas and Russell bounce back in this Sunday’s Portuguese Grand Prix at Algarve International Circuit (Portimao)? This race is set to be broadcast live on ESPN beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET.