Although the 20 drivers on the track are the people who make the headlines, Formula 1 is still very much a team sport.
What goes on in the pit lane, on the pit wall, in the garage and back in the factory is just as important as what happens on the track and that was evident again at Suzuka.
Commentating on the race for Sky Sports F1, Anthony Davidson wanted to praise one driver who was driving very well despite his team’s struggles.
There are so many moving parts in a Formula 1 team that it’s very rare for any outfit to execute the perfect weekend.
Red Bull have been doing it more often than not, although their car has been so far ahead of the rest of the field that they’ve been able to make a few mistakes and get away with it.
Mercedes gambled on strategy at Suzuka and had to adapt once it became clear they’d made the wrong choice.
Lando Norris started in the podium positions and while he would have had a tough time holding off the Ferraris, his strategy certainly didn’t help matters.
However, Anthony Davidson wanted to highlight how well Valtteri Bottas performed in Japan throughout the race weekend.
The Finn was fantastic in qualifying with one of the slowest cars on the grid, but once again his team didn’t give him the platform he needed to succeed.
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Anthony Davidson hails Valtteri Bottas after strong weekend in Japan
There are several underlying issues when it comes to the Sauber team – also known as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber – this season.
The one that has created the most headlines is their disastrous pit stops.
While the issue isn’t completely fixed, they at least didn’t suffer any nightmare delays, although there were still a couple of sluggish visits to the pit lane.
On one occasion, five of the back-running teams entered the pits at once and ultimately RB’s exceptional work on Yuki Tsunoda’s car helped him earn his first point at his Grand Prix.
Despite all of this, Davidson wanted to highlight how well Bottas performed in Japan.
The next step for the 34-year-old is to score Sauber’s first point of the season.
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Watching a fight between the Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Bottas, Davidson said: “This is a great little tussle between these two and Valtteri’s been performing really well this whole weekend.
“In qualifying, it was a great performance by him, he’ll probably be a little bit disappointed that he’s stuck behind the Haas at this stage of the race.
“Particularly [Kevin] Magnussen, because [Nico] Hulkenberg was the one that had the better qualifying out of the two Haas drivers.
“But when you’ve got such slow pit stops like they do at Sauber, this is the situation that you end up in.”
Co-commentator David Croft added: “Yes, sadly they’re fighting with one wheel behind their back in that respect.”
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Valtteri Bottas fighting for his F1 future
If it were up to incoming Audi team principal Andreas Seidl, Valtteri Bottas wouldn’t be driving a luminous green car this season.
He wanted to get rid of the Finn at the end of 2023, although his contract would have been extortionate to buy out.
Instead, Bottas is fighting to achieve his ‘number one’ target which is a contract extension with the team as Audi take more and more control.
On paper, he’s in a much stronger position to be retained than teammate Zhou Guanyu who has failed to show why Sauber offered him a third year in Formula 1.
There’s a scenario where both drivers are allowed to leave, but Bottas was doing the right things in Japan according to Davidson to show he still has what it takes.
The post ‘Great performance’: Anthony Davidson loved 34-year-old’s display in Japan, but his team really let him down appeared first on F1 Oversteer.