“There has never been any hiding of secrets between us” – Lewis Hamilton on why Valtteri Bottas is a better teammate than Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen, Jenson Button, and Nico Rosberg.
Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have helped Mercedes win four consecutive championships, and are in line to win their fifth if they hold off Red Bull this season.
The partnership is breaking up next season, though, with George Russell set to be Hamilton’s sixth teammate in F1, as he replaces Alfa Romeo-bound Bottas.
Hamilton has spoken highly of Bottas as a teammate, recently calling him the best he had, and wishing he continued in Mercedes. He says the strong communication he had with the Finn is unmatched compared to his past teammates.
“I made a comment recently about my current team-mate, this is the first time I have had a team-mate that we actually really, in our engineering room, really communicate.
“There has never been any hiding of secrets between us. We are both trying to better each other. In the end, we want to beat each other but we want to help each other be the better version of themselves and I have never known that with any other driver before.”
Lewis Hamilton and his teammates in F1
Lewis Hamilton has had three world champions as his teammates (Alonso, Button, Rosberg) and two flying Finns (Heikki and Valtteri). He is delighted with the experience he had with each other of them, helping him to become the champion he is now.
“Honestly, I have always been in a different place when I have been against all these different faces in my life.
“I was a kid when I joined Alonso, I was a kid. Just sheer belief and talent but not mature enough to manage everything else.
“I was in a different position when I was with Heikki, I was in a different position when I was with Jenson, a different position when I was with Nico.
“You learn different things from each and every single one of them. Each one of them was challenging, you can never beat your team-mate all the time, they are eventually going to either learn from you or vice versa and there is going to be mistakes.
“I wouldn’t change it for the world, the journey that I have had with them all, good or bad.”
