Wolff: Bottas would've been "within a shot" of title without Baku-drama

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff thinks that Valtteri Bottas would've been in the title race if not for the drama in the last stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which saw the Finn retire from first position with a flat tyre.

Even though Bottas hasn't won a race in 2018 for the German team, you could make the case that he should've had at least two. In Russia, the 29-year-old was in first after qualifying on pole position but was ordered by his team to let his teammate Lewis Hamilton past, much to his disappointment.

The other case was in early in the season, in Baku. Bottas was comfortably in first position and seemingly cruising to a win, until he hit debris on the track in one of the final laps and got a flat tyre (as pictured in the picture above). Hamilton grabbed the win and the Finn was left empty-handed.

"It would have been 25 points more for Valtteri that one race," Wolff explained to Motorsport Week.

"I think we would have gotten the Constructors’ Championship [earlier] but he would have been within a shot of the [drivers'] championship."

Missing out on 25 points in such an early stage of the season can flip the script completely. Mercedes always insist that Bottas isn't their number two driver at the start of the season, but only if he's much behind Hamilton in the championship. At that point, 25 points would've put Bottas higher than Hamilton. We doubt that Bottas would've kept that up for entire season, but it's a fun hypothetical to think about.