Bottas Shares How 'Hard' It Was To Admit Hamilton Was Better

Thursday, 28 December 2023 at 09:00

Updated at Thursday, 28 December 2023 at 10:27

Valtteri Bottas recently opened up about how challenging it was to race alongside the seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

Current Alfa Romeo/ Sauber F1 driver Valtteri Bottas was a teammate with Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes for five years, during which he didn't beat the Brit once in battle for the Championship.

While Bottas showed some great pace and matched or even beat Hamilton during some qualifications and races, he wasn't consistent enough over the period of 20-22 races in a season.

The Finn shared that his mindset going into every single year was that he could beat the seven-time World Champion as it was the only way he could think to stay competitive. He told motorsport.com:

"You have to be in denial. I was in denial for almost five years because every year, I wanted to get back to the season and then fight for the title, and I had to believe in myself."

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On the other hand, the 34-year-old said he accepted the differences between him and his former teammate when he knew he would not stay with the team for longer, and that was "hard."

"With Lewis, only in the last year could I accept to myself that in equal machinery over a period of a full season, I really struggled to beat him and that he's probably better in certain areas. As a racing driver, to admit that to yourself, is hard."

The Alfa Romeo/ Sauber driver lately indicated that Sergio Perez might be going through the same situation in Red Bull with Max Verstappen.

Asked if he needed somebody from the team telling him he could beat Hamilton, Bottas explained it was always quite honest and open meetings based on facts and data collected from races and qualifications. He added:

"Everything is based on facts and what they can see through the data on those things. You could see the average difference in qualifying or race pace. Nothing was avoided."