Bottas and this Albon person definitely have way better seats then they deserve (edit: sorry if this sounds too harsh :p), but I guess Bottas is the perfect teammate for Hamilton since he barely poses any challenge, I can see why they'd keep him

He'd beat Lewis now I think... 

Lewis in his prime though? 

That would be great to see. 

I understand why they do it, because the atmosphere in the team when it was Lewis and Nico obviously devolved into being quite toxic, but it really is frustrating - even as a Lewis fan - to see Bottas squander his opportunities weekend after weekend. I didn't care so much in the two years that Merc were having close fights with Ferrari for most of the season, but now that they've fallen back as they have, the lack of competition at the front is really frustrating.

It would be an interesting fight. Max is very quick, but he also hasn't really been particularly tested himself since Ricciardo left, and Ricciardo frequently had terrible luck while he was at RB.

I reckon Max would have an edge in qualifying, because while Lewis still pulls the odd magic lap out of the bag here and there, I don't think he's got quite the same consistent one lap pace he used to when he was younger. In races though, I'm pretty sure Lewis would still win out more often than not. He's just so savvy these days, and his racecraft has always been absolute top notch. Max has never had the pressure of being in an actual title fight for a whole year.

Fun fact: 2012 was their last victory with Jensen Button in Brazil

Before this race, I think the last time somebody other than Mercedes/Ferrari/Red Bull won a race was Kimi with Lotus back in 2013 (in Australia).