Who slept the worst last night

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Dear readers,

it is always uncomfortable if you have made a mistake yourself and have to admit your teeth grinding. But to err is human, and because otherwise I can’t sleep well myself, the best thing to do is get the topic straight out of the world.

It was the headline of the weekend: “Corona test negative: Nico Hülkenberg may drive in Silverstone!” Used to be but I would like to correct: At usa she ran two hours early.

It was already clear on Thursday evening that the 32 – The next year will give a sensational comeback that we had ready the corresponding message ready. At the time, however, we could not publish them.

Because Hülkenberg would only get into Sergio Perez’s cockpit if his Corona test was negative, and the result was not yet available at the time. The first check had no result, just an “error”, and so the crew Hülkenberg had to go to sleep without a hundred percent certainty about the start permit.

To err is human, but still annoying

As my colleagues on site in Silverstone then reported on Friday morning that they had already seen Hülkenberg at the racetrack, I drew the wrong conclusion. Usually only people who can already pass a negative corona test are admitted to the race track. Additionally: Corona test negative, comeback perfect – you could at least think so.

In fact it was shot too quickly. Because the check on Thursday evening did not produce a satisfactory result, the decision was made to test Hülkenberg again at the racetrack, where even better test equipment is available. It was not until a quarter of an hour before the session started that the required detrimental check really occurred.

We pointed out this error in both the article and Fb clear until the matter was really clear. But something like that mustn’t happen. I added up one and one and sold my invoice as a fact – it was just speculation at the time. Because of course that doesn’t create trust, I would like to apologize for this.

Hülkenberg, to stay on the ball, was one of the hot candidates for the leading role in this column. We will be sure about that in one of the next videos on our YouTube channel , on which we debrief every Monday evening since this year. “Who slept the worst last night.”

Loser of the weekend: Valtteri Bottas

But ultimately I believe that there is one who Yesterday at least contested the race, but went out gape and was one of the big losers: Valtteri Bottas. And not even because of its driving performance. Because there is nothing to complain about, the whole Silverstone weekend was very good.

The fact is, however, that the first (third party debt) zero number (probably) on 16 or 17 race shortened Formula 1 season 2020 is particularly painful because team mate Lewis Hamilton won despite the same tire damage and his head start in the World Cup on 30 points increased .

That sounds like a lot – and it is too much. That’s right, modified into Toto Wolff always says: A failure, and all of that is put into perspective very quickly. We saw on Sunday. But the fact is: if you drive a Mercedes like Hamilton, you rarely fail. And if you are also perhaps the best racing driver of all time, presumably at the peak of your career, then you usually win if you don’t fail.

Assuming that Bottas wins all the next from now on Race, and Hamilton finished second every time. A purely hypothetical arithmetic game that will never ever occur. Even then, Bottas would only go to Mugello on 13. September to take the lead in the World Cup. That shows modified into for a Herculean task lying there in front of him.

We are currently seeing perhaps the best bottas of all time. In every other season and against every other opponent, he would possibly become world champion. But his self-discipline is that his opponent is in the same (by far the best) car and his name is Lewis Hamilton. Plus the best Lewis Hamilton ever.

Wolff’s “Compliment” and modified into it really means

Toto Wolff recently explained why the pairing Hamilton-Bottas is “the best solution” for Mercedes: “On a bad one Lewis day is Valtteri. And on a good day Lewis is unbeatable. “

It only sounds like a compliment for Bottas at first. In truth, it means that if they both tap their potential, Hamilton is just that little bit better. And only when Hamilton doesn’t have his best day and Bottas has a particularly good one can the Finn win. Just like the Tumble started the season in Spielberg.

Wolff’s carefully chosen words are nothing but the truth. And that shows up in small distinguished aspects. It’s not that curves like Copse or Becketts make Hamilton tenths faster than Bottas. There are subtle nuances in which the performance of the two Mercedes drivers differs.

For example, the tire management. Bottas was an equal opponent for a Hamilton in form in Q1 and Q2. When it came to the pole area in Q3, he even had a lead in the first split. But in the second part of the lap his tires were already dismantled because he had taken them too hard before.

The best, modified into what Mercedes could wish for

It is an irony of fate that Bottas himself may possibly be with his always improving performance the reason for this is that Hamilton, too, is swinging itself to new top performances. A constellation that every team boss can only dream of – especially as long as it runs as peacefully as between the two.

I’m really not a fan of talking about a preliminary decision in the World Cup far too early. But at the latest after Silverstone 1 it is clear: World Champion 2020 will become one under normal circumstances Mercedes driver. That narrative is not just me. And which one that will be, at least a first style can be read.

Silverstone 2 is not yet a race of the last likelihood for Bottas, but it is a particularly important one. Another defeat against Hamilton (and a defeat would be to finish second behind Hamilton) is something he can’t really afford. Because then he would after our 1-2 arithmetic game at the earliest on 11. October at the Nürburgring to take the world championship lead.

Assuming that Bottas victories before Hamilton are not a sure-fire success, but might even remain the exception, that would probably be too little. To have at least a small likelihood, Bottas needs the favor of momentum on his side. And that was only once the tumble in the first four races of the season.

By the way: Someone slept best last night. Maybe Lewis Hamilton too? But my colleague Stefan Ehlen has on our sister portal motorsport.com dug up another candidate …

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Christian Nimmervoll

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