Bottas vs Perez, who is the better wingman? Qualifying performances While they may be a little bit behind in qualifying, the situation is not so pronounced on matchday. Defensive performance stability

Bottas and Perez will have a huge impact on the title race, and it seems that the performance of the remaining 6 stops will be crucial for who is the better wingman.

First of all, both drivers have been lackluster this season, and it is a bit unreasonable to know that their tadpole has the fastest car in the paddock, but is far behind teammates Hamilton and Verstappen in terms of driver points, and even at one point behind McLaren Norris.

However, in Turkey, the performance of the two has made people re-evaluate the role they will play in the championship battle, and now let's sort it out together:

< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > qualifying performance</h1>

As the performance of McLaren and Ferrari improves, it is difficult to surpass on many of the remaining tracks, and if Bottas and Perez want to help their teammates better, they are crucial in qualifying before the midstream team.

Perez is saddened because his teammate may be the fastest qualifying racer in the paddock, and most of the saturday performances this season have been disappointing, he has only won the Dutchman once in qualifying, and has only been in the top four five times in the last 16 qualifying games, with an average ranking of P7, which makes it too far away from his teammates to form a synergy when starting.

In contrast, Bottas has only failed to reach the top three in five of his last 16 qualifying games, five front-row starts and four of them have beaten Hamilton. In 12 of his 16 race weekends, he was closer to his teammates than Perez.

Winner: Bottas

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > performance

While they may be a bit of a gap in qualifying, it's not as noticeable on matchday. </h1>

Perez showed strong regular speed, with plenty of excellent overtaking, especially in terms of protecting the tyres, and in terms of full race speed, it was usually not far from Hamilton and Verstappen. However, things weren't perfect, and the Mexicans made costly mistakes in Imola, Red Bull Ring and Spa.

Bottas, meanwhile, showed master level at Monza and Istanbul Park, with Monza from the bottom of the team to P3, Turkish pole to win, but his performances in Imola, Baku and Sochi are obvious points of spit, but most of his other Sundays are solid, if not unobtrusive.

Winner: Draw

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="19" > defensive performance</h1>

Defensive ability is a very important skill for driver number two, just as Bottas is clearly a winner in qualifying, Perez is clearly better at stopping opponents.

In Baku and Istanbul Park, the Mexican driver's task was to block Hamilton as much as possible to help his teammates and did it perfectly in both races.

On the other hand, Bottas' defense can be described as a disaster, the most obvious examples of which are Paul Ricard, Zandvoort and Sochi, who barely made defensive moves and was easily overtaken by whom.

Winner: Perez

<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="25" > stability</h1>

Bottas and Perez have been problematic in their regular-game stability this season.

In Baku, Paul Ricard and Istanbul Park, Perez has played exactly what Red Bull Racing has desperately needed since Daniel Ricciardo left, but in terms of actual performances throughout the season, he is not much better than his predecessor Alben.

For Bottas, given that he has been working at Mercedes since 2017, Bottas clearly understands and harnesses the car much better than Perez, so he fluctuates less, even though these levels are far from stable.

Winner: Bottas

conclusion:

Together, the two have 78 podiums, but the 2021 Turkish Grand Prix is the first time the two have reached the podium at the same time.

Which of these two is better for their teammates, it's not easy to determine, but given all the factors, Bottas should be better. He ran better in qualifying, usually as well as Perez in the main race, and consistently outperformed the Mexican.

However, in terms of wheel-to-wheel, Perez is an excellent driver, and with this and his strong regular rhythm, if he tries to improve his qualifying results, I believe he will provide more support to his teammates than Bottas.