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Written by Jason Barlow
Sunday"s Australian Grand Prix raised a handful of significant talking points. Does Mercedes" pace and Ferrari"s lack of it provide irrevocable proof that only a madman would conclude anything meaningful after reading the runes of winter testing? Has Sebastian Vettel adopted Nigel Mansell as his role model vis- -vis the moustache? And can anyone else think of a comeback as mighty as the one Valtteri Bottas pulled off? F1"s owners crave a cinematic narrative, and this was straight out of Rocky Balboa"s playbook. Bottas had pushed Lewis Hamilton hard all through free practice and looked good for pole until the Briton conjured some last-gasp magic, as he so often does. What, the hugely likeable Finn must have thought, do I have to do to beat this guy? In 2018, he fumbled for the answer from one race weekend to the next. Lewis won 11 races last year, Bottas none. This was the sort of demolition job that could end a career. In Melbourne, however, Valtteri did some thinking overnight, got into the car on Sunday afternoon, made an electrifying start, and proceeded to destroy Lewis and everyone else. He was so far ahead that whomever was controlling the broadcast feed simply ignored him in favour of the intense battles going on in the mid-field. OK, so his team elected to cover Vettel when they pitted Hamilton early. In light of Ferrari"s evaporating pace they needn"t have bothered. But Valtteri still delivered a performance of such dominance that even Lewis couldn"t keep up. Bottas had a near-21 second margin to his team-mate across the finishing line.
Date written: 19 Mar 2019
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 15197
Sunday"s Australian Grand Prix raised a handful of significant talking points. Does Mercedes" pace and Ferrari"s lack of it provide irrevocable proof that only a madman would conclude anything meaningful after reading the runes of winter testing? Has Sebastian Vettel adopted Nigel Mansell as his role model vis- -vis the moustache? And can anyone else think of a comeback as mighty as the one Valtteri Bottas pulled off? F1"s owners crave a cinematic narrative, and this was straight out of Rocky Balboa"s playbook. Bottas had pushed Lewis Hamilton hard all through free practice and looked good for pole until the Briton conjured some last-gasp magic, as he so often does. What, the hugely likeable Finn must have thought, do I have to do to beat this guy? In 2018, he fumbled for the answer from one race weekend to the next. Lewis won 11 races last year, Bottas none. This was the sort of demolition job that could end a career. In Melbourne, however, Valtteri did some thinking overnight, got into the car on Sunday afternoon, made an electrifying start, and proceeded to destroy Lewis and everyone else. He was so far ahead that whomever was controlling the broadcast feed simply ignored him in favour of the intense battles going on in the mid-field. OK, so his team elected to cover Vettel when they pitted Hamilton early. In light of Ferrari"s evaporating pace they needn"t have bothered. But Valtteri still delivered a performance of such dominance that even Lewis couldn"t keep up. Bottas had a near-21 second margin to his team-mate across the finishing line.
Date written: 19 Mar 2019
More of this article on the Top gear website
ID: 15197
