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Niki Lauda: "Wehrlein as fast as Bottas"

Published on 06 Feb 2017 10:37
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By: Rob Veenstra

Only his lack of experience meant Pascal Wehrlein was overlooked for the top Mercedes cockpit in 2017. That is the claim of team chairman Niki Lauda, amid criticism that the fact Mercedes signed Valtteri Bottas demonstrated a lack of faith in the marque's top junior, 22-year-old Wehrlein.

"With Wehrlein it was only about his inexperience," the F1 legend told Auto Bild. "And the pressure can also lead to errors, like Verstappen in Monte Carlo. This is not a criticism, it's just normal for very young drivers," Lauda said. "So the decision was made for Bottas because he's as fast as Wehrlein, but he has the experience."

Some, meanwhile, have suggested that Mercedes should actually have signed up a star name to be Lewis Hamilton's new teammate, replacing retiring champion Nico Rosberg. "No, it doesn't matter," Lauda said. "Because the moment Bottas has success with Mercedes, then he is known." (GMM)

F1 News Pascal Wehrlein Mercedes

Replies (9)

boudy

Posts: 1,168
PR nonsense. If he was good enough he would be in the Merc.
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- Feb 6 2017 - 11:03
mclarenfan1968

Posts: 1,027
If he is as fast there is no need for Bottas, Wehrlein would have been way more cheaper. Haven't seen much from Wehrlein and they know it which is why they went with Bottas.
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- Feb 6 2017 - 11:10
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  It's not all about pure speed sometimes
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  Feb 6 2017 - 17:14
- mclarenfan1968
  
  Posts: 1,027
  Wehrlein is no Cashtor Malfunctionado so running out of parts and wasting time on rebuilds is the least of Mercedes' worries when taking him onboard, the issue lies elswhere. Face it, he hasn't been that special, I mean what the actual heck has Wehrlein demonstrated? The flash in the pan race at Spa? Remember Cashtor won a race too and that isn't saying much. If Werhlein is unmistakably quick for his experience he would have gotten that seat at Mercedes, but he isn't hence Bottas being the obvious choice for them. Mercedes took a lot of pains to negotiate all of this with Bottas, it is clear they don't have much faith in Werhlein as of now.
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  Feb 6 2017 - 17:33
- f1fan0101
  
  Posts: 1,804
  Well I mean, the Bottas deal is only for a single year so perhaps Mercedes just want Wehrlein to cook up some more experience.. He had a good race in Austrlia, and Austria from direct memory.. He could have fluffed up next season if Merc promoted him straight away which would destroy everything the two have worked together on. He's still very young so I think Bottas was a safe option to see who is best for 2018 (Alonso, Vettel, Wehrlein etc.) It may even turn out that the team love working with Bottas and he stays on
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  Feb 6 2017 - 19:40
bremgarten

Posts: 38
Wehrlein as fast as Bottas?

So that's why Force India took Ocon.
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- Feb 6 2017 - 22:27
Vet5

Posts: 225
Trying to keep Wherlein sweet thats all this is. Take a lesson out of RedBulls books, promote them regardless and give the young guys a chance. Unless Hamilton decides to leave the team at the end of the season, who knows!
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- Feb 6 2017 - 22:56
calle.itw

Posts: 8,527
Maybe he is as fast, but speed isnt all there is to Bottas: he is pretty fast, but he is also very consistent, good at development, tyre management and wet laps. Pretty much a jack of all trades kind. Speed alone doesnt necessarily take you up there.
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- Feb 7 2017 - 17:11
Wolfgang

Posts: 313
i´m personally thinking it was the best solution for all of them.

Merc can´t be sure Hamilton is staying because Raikkonen is getting quite old slowly. Same thing with Alonso. If McLaren finds speed, Hamilton would definitely want to go back to McLaren in order to get that "McLaren Honda" title.

Plus the fact with Paddy Lowe. I´m quite sure Williams wanted Lowe desperately so they traded more or less with both parties having some good cards to play.

With Wehrlein going to Sauber, they´ll get good information about the ferrari power plant.. Something Merc is surely interested in very much. -> Keeping in mind they´ve now got James Allison on board who has the "earlier" data of the italian power plant in his pockets. So from that point of view it made a lot of sense to do the way they did.

So all in all i´m thinking they´ll run Bottas for the next years in order to promote Merc in Scandinavia. As soon as Hamilton leaves they go for Wehrlein. They definetely won´t go for Alonso.. Merc payed for the "spy gate" more than McLaren at that time and there was a certain Alonso involved. Something they surely haven´t forgotten at Merc.
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- Feb 8 2017 - 09:17