F1 News
Criticism on Bottas after disappointing result: "He's very poor at that"
- GPblog.com
Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer has voiced his criticism of Valtteri Bottas. The Mercedes driver seemed totally lost during the race weekend in Baku, and could therefore count on considerable criticism at his address.
Mercedes struggled on the Azerbaijan circuit from Friday. Similar to Monaco, the team could not impress until qualifying on Saturday, where Lewis Hamilton qualified on the front row of the grid. Bottas was unable to improve, however, and from a tenth starting position only dropped further into the race.
Not a good word for Bottas
Palmer doesn't have a good word to say about that performance, suggesting it wasn't a one-off. "Hamilton made a big step after Friday, Bottas did not. His restart after the safety car was terrible. He was stuck behind Lando Norris on the same strategy, in a car where Hamilton was much faster than the McLaren," he says in the F1 Nation podcast.
"He's very poor at wheel-to-wheel fighting, every time you see him. If you put him in midfield he doesn't get ahead. At best he holds his position, but probably falls back," the 30-year-old Briton continued. "I can't remember a good overtake by Bottas. This weekend he was just a midfielder," said Palmer.