Can Bottas convince Ferrari he's the man to replace Kimi Raikkonen?
Thursday 10 March 2016 10:09, UK
This is the year Valtteri Bottas needs to step up, dominate his intra-team battle at Williams with Felipe Massa and prove he is a future F1 champion.
The 2011 GP3 champion is regularly tipped for the big time and was heavily linked with Ferrari in 2015, but the Scuderia reportedly decided the Finn wasn't worth the money - reputedly £10m - it would take to extract him from his Williams contract.
Bottas has finished ahead of his team-mate in the drivers' standings every year during his F1 career. Of the current field, it's a boast that only Felipe Nasr and Max Verstappen can match - and they've yet to start their second seasons in the sport.
The Finn's F1 record certainly stands scrutiny. In his rookie campaign of 2013 he scored four points to Pastor Maldonado's one, in 2014 he scored 52 more points than Massa and in 2015 he beat the Brazilian by 15 points despite starting one less race.
But let's play devil's advocate for a moment. If Bottas is to be more than just a very good F1 driver should he not be beating Massa by a more considerable margin? The Brazilian was only fleetingly considered Ferrari's best bet for a championship, spending most of his time as the No 2 driver. That only 15 points separated a driver reaching his peak driving years and another in the twilight of his career will be a concern.
So what does Bottas need to do in 2016? He needs to produce the kind of domination Sebastian Vettel has enjoyed over Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari - particularly if he is to prove himself a better proposition than his compatriot.
The German finished 128 points ahead of his veteran team-mate. Vettel also out-qualified Raikkonen 15-4 - rather more impressive than Bottas' 11-8 victory over Massa.
That's the sort of resounding advantage Bottas must be aiming for.
Perhaps that will be made possible this year by a tighter fight for third in the Constructors' Championship. For the past two years Williams have been the clear third-best team, meaning Bottas and Massa were always likely to finish in close proximity to each other.
If Red Bull return to form in 2016, and Force India and Toro Rosso carry their testing pace into the season, Williams could find themselves under pressure.
A multi-car squabble could potentially give Bottas the opportunity to shine if he can finish with several cars between himself and Massa. It might even suggest he is outperforming the FW38.
There is a feeling that this is a make or break year for Bottas with the driver market set for a reshuffle in 2017 with potential vacancies at Ferrari and Mercedes.
At 26, he is no longer a youngster by modern F1 standards. Eighteen-year-old Max Verstappen is the new hot property on the grid, while Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat are just 21.
Like Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg was tipped to star for one of the top teams, but at 28 is now considered to have missed his chance at F1's top table. And there is a danger Bottas could do the same.
However, the prospect of new rules in 2017 could see some teams opt for an experienced head which could give the Finn an edge over some talented youngsters.
With a 2017 vacancy at Ferrari highly likely, Bottas needs to comprehensively outperform Massa, particularly in the first half of 2016, to demonstrate he is worthy of a seat alongside Vettel.
The first race of the 2016 F1 season, the Australian GP, is exclusively live on Sky Sports F1. The race in Melbourne starts at 5am on Sunday March 20.
