Out of all the teammates Lewis Hamilton has raced with over the years, he always puts Valtteri Bottas at the top of the list. Bottas joined Mercedes in 2017 and spent five seasons with the Silver Arrows, helping them win five constructors’ championships in the process.
It isn’t a secret that Bottas wasn’t the main man at Mercedes, with the team prioritizing Hamilton’s championship charges. On several occasions, Bottas had to sacrifice his race to help Hamilton and according to the latter, this never affected their relationship.
In a video released by Mercedes where Hamilton looks back on his ten years with the team, he talks about his time with Bottas. Hamilton explains how every driver needs to fight for as many points as possible which often leads to teammates at top teams falling out. However, with Bottas, this never happened.
Hamilton came across a picture of him and Bottas from 2021 and began reminiscing about their time together as teammates.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas never fell apart
Hamilton talks about how every team needs to focus on two championships, and how the management expects their drivers to work collectively on maximizing the points for the team. However, no driver wants to be behind his teammate. Hence, often, drivers fall apart because of differences in opinion, but not Bottas.
Hamilton describes Bottas as a ‘great teammate and colleague.’ He then went on to explain what made Bottas so easy to work with.
“Ultimately you want to beat your teammate,” says Hamilton. “There is always an internal rivalry. A very difficult path to walk down and it’s very easy to be on the wrong side and you fall out or whatever.”
Fortunately, Hamilton never had any problems with Bottas because whenever they felt something was coming up, they used to speak on things. They both recognized their mistakes, and focused on where they had to improve to help the team collectively.
Bottas’ key role in Mercedes’ years of dominance
Between 2014 and 2021, Mercedes dominated F1, winning eight consecutive constructors’ world championships. Five of those were won when Bottas was with the Brackley-based outfit and Hamilton reveals why his partnership with the former Williams driver was so successful.
Hamilton admitted that when there were problems with performance, both drivers focused on how they could get better instead of dwelling on mistakes or blaming others. Bottas always supported Hamilton, and the 38-year-old reciprocated, and had an “amazing time” with the now Alfa Romeo driver.
“He supported me and I supported him,” Hamilton added. “And we still support each other today.”
