F1 | Lewis Hamilton vs Valtteri Bottas; performance comparison in qualifying and race
Mercedes has won each and every drivers' and constructors' championship since 2014 and its drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, fall down as maybe the most important factors for that achievement. In this piece, you will find all the information to compare their performances in their W11.
As we have been doing for a few days now, teammate comparisons are an extremely interesting thing to look at. We have to remember that the greatest point of comparison of a driver is his teammate since both drivers have exactly the same car, consequently, any result achieved in that car is possible if you have the same car. Once the 2020 Formula 1 season is over, now is when the official results have already come to light and at MotorLat we have prepared an article to compare two drivers who have undoubtedly swept the drivers 'and constructors' championships, we are talking of the Mercedes drivers, namely Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. We will take into account the qualifying session and the race on Sunday so that your averages can be calculated in these two sessions.
- Qualifying session and starting position.
Mercedes is always listed as the team to beat year after year. They have been so dominant since Formula 1 decided to switch to the turbo-hybrid era of power units that, since its introduction in 2014, the German team has won absolutely every championship, both drivers’ and constructors’. Their cars have been the fastest, most competitive, the most reliable, for some the most beautiful, but, above all, the most adaptable to the different circuits that took place in the 2020 Formula 1 season.
In the qualifying session, Lewis Hamilton was the best performer. We have to remember that Lewis Hamilton did not participate in the Sakhir Grand Prix because he tested positive for Covid-19 and missed all the action on track at the Bahrain track. Both Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton got their pass to Q3 in all the races in which they participated, that is, we could see Bottas in Q3 in all 17 races of the year while Lewis was in 16. Here we have added a category that is the number of pole positions that each driver obtained, here we can see that the seven-time world champion took a total of 10 pole positions in the classification, on the other hand, the Finnish pilot achieved only 5. In the chart that we have attached we can see that, thanks to the calculations we have done, Valtteri Bottas is, on average, 0.237 seconds slower than Hamilton in that session. Lewis' worst position was P6, while Valtteri's was P9 (both achieved at the Turkish Grand Prix). Finally, on average, the position that Lewis Hamilton obtained in each qualifying session was 1.6, that is and rounded, 2nd place, while the Finnish driver had an average position of 2.2, that is, also 2nd place.
Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton's Time Lap | Lewis Hamilton's Position | Valtteri Bottas' Position | Valtteri Bottas' Time Lap | Difference from Bottas to Hamilton |
Austria | 1:02.951 | 2 | 1 | 1:02.939 | -0.012 |
Styria | 1:19.273 | 1 | 4 | 1:20.701 | +1.428 |
Hungary | 1:13.447 | 1 | 2 | 1:13.554 | +0.107 |
Great Britain | 1:24.303 | 1 | 2 | 1:24.616 | +0.313 |
70th Anniversary | 1:25.217 | 2 | 1 | 1:25.154 | -0.063 |
Spain | 1:15.584 | 1 | 2 | 1:15.643 | +0.059 |
Belgium | 1:41.252 | 1 | 2 | 1:41.763 | +0.511 |
Italy | 1:18.887 | 1 | 2 | 1:18.956 | +0.069 |
Toscany | 1:15.144 | 1 | 2 | 1:15.203 | +0.059 |
Russia | 1:31.304 | 1 | 3 | 1:31.956 | +0.652 |
Eifel | 1:25.525 | 2 | 1 | 1:25.269 | -0.256 |
Portugal | 1:16.652 | 1 | 2 | 1:16.754 | +0.102 |
Imola | 1:13.706 | 2 | 1 | 1:13.609 | -0.097 |
Turkey | 1:52.560 | 6 | 9 | 1:53.258 | +0.698 |
Bahrain | 1:27.264 | 1 | 2 | 1:27.553 | +0.289 |
Sakhir | Did not participate | Did not participate | 1 | 53.377 | -------------- |
Abu Dhabi | 1:35.332 | 3 | 2 | 1:35.271 | -0.061 |
Average Qualifying Position | 2° (1.6) | 2° (2.2) | |||
Average Difference from Bottas to Hamilton | +0.237 |
- Race and final position.
The race is where the points are awarded, so the result in this session will determine your position in the drivers’ and constructors’ championship. To start with, Valtteri Bottas had only one retirement (this could have been by accident or mechanical incident), while Hamilton did not obtain any. Lewis achieved a total of 11 victories this year, Bottas only obtained 2. The seven-time world champion was present on the podium 14 times out of 16, while Valtteri was present on the podium 11 times out of 17. The worst position in which the driver British driver finished was P7 at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, while Valtteri's - excepting his abandonment - was P14 at the Turkish Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton's average race podium was 1.8, that is, 2nd place, while Bottas' was 4.1, that is, 4th place. To conclude, Lewis Hamilton finished in the first position in the drivers' championship with a total of 347 units, when Valtteri was placed in second position with 223 points (a difference of 124 points). This is the chart that will help us understand better the information.
Grand Prix | Lewis Hamilton's Position | Valtteri Bottas' Position |
Austria | 4 | 1 |
Styria | 1 | 2 |
Hungary | 1 | 3 |
Great Britain | 1 | 11 |
70th Anniversary | 2 | 3 |
Spain | 1 | 3 |
Belgium | 1 | 2 |
Italy | 7 | 5 |
Toscany | 1 | 2 |
Russia | 3 | 1 |
Eifel | 1 | DNF |
Portugal | 1 | 2 |
Imola | 1 | 2 |
Turkey | 1 | 14 |
Bahrain | 1 | 8 |
Sakhir | -------------- | 8 |
Abu Dhabi | 3 | 2 |
Average Race Position | 2° (1.8) | 4° (4.1) |
Victories | 11 | 2 |
Podiums | 14 | 11 |
DNFs | 0 | 1 |
Points | 347 | 223 |