Former F1 driver Martin Brundle says Valtteri Bottas needs to revive the inner flame that allowed him to defeat Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton earlier this season.
Bottas and Hamilton shared wins in the first four races of the 2019 season. But since Baku, the Finn has been no match for the reigning world champion who conquered in France his fourth consecutive win of the year.
"Bottas needs to urgently find that guy with wild eyes who I interviewed as the winner at the end of the Australian Grand Prix, and invite him back into the cockpit," Brundle wrote in his post-race Sky Sports column.
"Lewis has the clear upper hand and he hasn't even reached the summer break yet, after which he tends to get really fast."
Brundle admitted that Hamilton is in a league of his own, as is his W10 Silver Arrow as his pace at the end of Sunday's race attested.
"One of the more remarkable yet most annoying facts was that on lap 53, Lewis Hamilton on twenty-nine lap old tyres delivered a time of 1:32.764," added the Sky F1 commentator.
"On the same lap, on fresh tyres, Sebastian Vettel determinedly stole the fastest lap world championship point with a 1.32.740.
"Hamilton and Mercedes are just playing with the opposition like a cat with a ball of wool.
©Mercedes
"I'm not saying it's easy, because F1 is not, but they have reserves of speed yet and we are not seeing-flat out racing.
"Which makes it even more painful that Ferrari took many of their updated aero parts off the car because they weren't better.
"They didn't close the gap to a cruising Mercedes around Paul Ricard.
"Vettel and Charles Leclerc drove fine races, the latter almost catching Valtteri Bottas on the final lap after the Virtual Safety Car was deployed due to an errant bollard. Which rather sums up the race."
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