Formula 1: Christian Horner’s Valtteri Bottas comments raise eyebrows

Christian Horner commented on Valtteri Bottas’s position at Mercedes, adding to the speculation about his future in Formula 1.

A rumor recently emerged that Mercedes may look to replace Valtteri Bottas with George Russell not just for the 2022 Formula 1 season but before the 2021 season ends, as an anonymous Mercedes engineer stated that there has been recent “unrest at the factory” surrounding the 31-year-old Finn and his performance.

While teammate Lewis Hamilton has won two of the season’s first three races and finished in second place in the other, Bottas has finished no higher than third, and he has only finished two races. He sits in fourth in the driver standings behind not only Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen but McLaren’s Lando Norris as well.

Bottas was inexplicably battling the Williams of Russell for position — defending against him, actually — at Imola when the two came together, causing a massive accident.

While Russell eventually took the blame, the very fact that Bottas was even close to a Williams on-track is alarming to say the least.

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Then more recently, Bottas failed to convert his pole position into a win at Portimao, settling for third place behind the two title contenders for the second time in three events.

With the battle between Mercedes and Red Bull being much closer this season than it has been in years past, not just among Hamilton and Verstappen in the driver standings but among the two organizations in the constructor standings, Bottas simply playing a number two driver role to Hamilton may not be enough to keep Mercedes ahead in their pursuit of their eighth consecutive world title.

Russell’s contract with Williams is due to expire at the end of the 2021 season, much like Bottas’s fifth consecutive one-year deal with Mercedes, so it is entirely possible that the team would be okay with letting him go early to try to get a head start on finding another driver for next year, considering it is expected that the Mercedes junior driver will replace Bottas next year anyway.

And all of that may very well play into why Red Bull team principal Christian Horner recently said what he said.

Horner knows that this year’s battle between Mercedes and Red Bull may very well come down to the wire, as so far, it has been just as advertised, with the two teams exchanging blows through the first three events and appearing poised to do so many more times throughout the 23-race season. This is clearly his team’s best chance to win their first title since 2013.

Here is what he had to say regarding the rumors about Bottas losing his seat, according to Daily Mail.

"“Valtteri has done a great job over the last few years. I’d be surprised if they did switch Valtteri and George around.”"

Bottas and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff have since refuted the rumor, but could it all be a mind game from Horner’s side, like pretty much everything is between these two teams, or is Horner just trying to be nice, making a simple statement that should be taken at nothing more than face value?

While the latter doesn’t appear too unlikely, it is hard to take anything at “face value” when it comes to these two teams discussing the competition between them.

Who would Horner really rather deal with in the second W12, Bottas or Russell?

At the end of the day, he knows that Mercedes don’t care about his input whatsoever, whether it’s 100% serious or not, and that their decision isn’t going to reflect his thoughts.

But his comments will make it even more interesting to watch how the situation plays out, considering the fact that Bottas is clearly the team’s weak point right now and a switch would not at all be surprising.

Since joining Hamilton at Mercedes, Bottas has won nine races while Hamilton has won 44. To put that in perspective, Hamilton’s lowest single-season win total over the last seven seasons is nine.

Bottas does have two runner-up finishes in the driver standings in four years, though that was when Mercedes had by far and away the best car on the grid in 2019 and 2020.

We saw in last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit what Russell is capable of doing in top-notch equipment, as he filled in for Hamilton after Hamilton tested positive for COVID-19. He did so in a car that he barely fit in, one which left him with bloody knuckles and banged-up knees because of it.

Bottas beat him to the pole position, but Russell took the lead on the opening lap and dominated his teammate until two late issues out of his control dropped him to ninth place, one spot behind Bottas in eighth.

Will Bottas finish out the 2021 season for Mercedes, or will they bring in Russell to replace him? The next race on the schedule, the Spanish Grand Prix, is scheduled to take place at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya this Sunday, May 9, and it is set to be broadcast live on ESPN beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.