Valtteri Bottas opened up about his fights against Lewis Hamilton during his five-year tenure at Mercedes. The Finn signed a multi-year deal with Alfa Romeo in September ahead of next season after being replaced by George Russell as Hamilton’s team-mate for the upcoming season.
Bottas will be remembered as extremely successful at Mercedes, having helped the Silver Arrows win the Constructors’ Championship in each of his five seasons with the team.
However, he could not hand Hamilton in the individual standings and did not bother the British for a whole year.
He couldn’t match Nico Rosberg’s ability to push the 36-year-old as this year’s efforts were halted by a string of poor performances and bad luck during the first half of the season.
Mercedes got Russell on a long-term basis to drive alongside Hamilton from the next season, so Bottas was free to switch to Alfa Romeo.
The latter has since stated that he’s been forced to accept his former teammate’s superiority on a regular basis, with Hamilton’s impressive work rate, raw talent and unrivaled consistency keeping him at the top of the pecking order.
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“It was always the risk for me to try too hard [against Hamilton]“, Bottas told GP fans.
“I’m not giving myself enough time to get to where I wanted to be, so just allow myself to accept that it’s pretty difficult to face Lewis and I can’t always beat him.
“It’s a fact simply because of his persistence, talent and the work he does. I also know I can, just that if that doesn’t happen, I might not beat myself up.”
“That was a pretty big deal. I just learned what works for me, in terms of attitudes towards the races and what to do between them.”
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Bottas also admitted that he learned many lessons from fighting Hamilton that he will bring to the next phase of his Alfa Romeo career.
“I’ve definitely learned a lot about myself, I’ve learned that this sport is so much more mental,” he added.
“When you really compare whether it’s a physical or a mental sport, then it’s so much my head. In any case, I’ve learned to simply accept mistakes and learn from mistakes.
“That part of the study and the opportunity to learn to be honest with myself, that’s a big deal.”
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Bottas was known for maintaining a strong relationship with Hamilton during his time at Mercedes, with the duo now widely recognized as one of the most dominant teammates in F1 history.
Hamilton was full of praise for his former Silver Arrows colleague after they both sealed a front row ban in qualifying at the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix last month.
“I’m proud of the work Valtteri did, he almost hit me out there,” he told reporters.
“That was one of the most intense qualifying sessions we’ve had in a while. I’m grateful for that, even if it’s only the fifth [pole position] of the year.
“We worked so hard through simulation, setup and collaboration, just epic with Valtteri who is for sure the best team-mate ever in the sport.”
