“Avoid the mistake I did”– Valtteri Bottas offers advice to George Russell before his move to Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas offers a piece of advice to George Russell before the Briton succeeds him in Mercedes; believes that he is talented.
George Russell will be offering his services to Mercedes from 2022 onwards, with Valtteri Bottas leaving for Alfa Romeo. In the five years with the Silver Arrows, Bottas hasn’t managed to achieve what he wanted.
However, he managed to be a fitting servant to the team. Though, Bottas wishes a few things could have gone better, and realizing that George Russell will soon be having the pressure of partnering with Lewis Hamilton offers him advice.
The Finn race driver claims that he was “too harsh” on himself when he joined Mercedes in 2017. And tells his successor to avoid doing it with himself.
“Don’t think too short term, because it’s a sport that there’s so much always to learn, and take things step by step,” said Bottas. “He’s a talented driver, and he’s gonna have a great team to support him. He’s going to be alongside Lewis [who] he will be able to learn from.”
“I don’t think I need to give too [much] advice, just maybe [to avoid] the mistake I did – I was a bit too harsh on myself in the very beginning. [But] he’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
If Valtteri Bottas had to pen a letter to 28-year-old himself?
Bottas then expanded on the points when asked what he would have told his 2017 self. He replied that he could have been more patient with himself.
Valtteri Bottas 🎙️
“Toto thinks pressure is good… I agree, pressure for some time is good and can get more out of you.
But if you have pressure contractually for nine years in F1, year by year, it starts to eat you inside”.
— formularacers (@formularacers_) November 11, 2021
“Probably [to be] a bit more patient, in a way,” Bottas commented. “I came into 2017 saying to myself that I’m going to win the championship now. Like, I’ve got to do it now.”
“And I’ve got to get poles immediately, wins, which I got pretty quickly. But then, I’m sure there were times that I was trying too hard. “The level Lewis is performing [at] is quite difficult to match.”
“And it’s such a fine sport as well, that if you try too much, then normally the stopwatch doesn’t like it. Especially in 2018, it started quite OK with good performances, but no wins. Then it just went downwards and it was tough. So I would say [be] a bit more patient.”
Also read: Mercedes accuse Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of guessing at Mexico GP
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