“Valtteri Bottas has always been in a pressure cooker”: Toto Wolff admits that comparisons to Lewis Hamilton may have impacted the Finnish driver’s performances during his time in Mercedes

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff thinks that being Lewis Hamilton’s teammate put Valtteri Bottas under a lot of pressure. 

Bottas will leave Mercedes at the end of the season after five years with the Brackley based team. In 2021, he will go for Alfa Romeo racing, where he will team up with Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou.

The 32-year-old had a decent spell with the Silver Arrows. He won 1o races during his time there but never challenged teammate Lewis Hamilton for the World Title. People have often blamed Bottas’ lack of consistency as something that set him and his teammate apart.

On the other hand, Toto Wolff thinks that being Hamilton’s teammate always put Bottas under a lot of pressure. “I think Valtteri has always been in a pressure cooker all his life in formula racing.

“He had never had abundant resources to go racing, and I feel that was good for him.” he said. “Having said that, would a multi-year contract have been better?”

“In hindsight, you can always have a different opinion. He is a great guy and a fast racer but the years with Lewis can be quite pressurizing.” said Toto.

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“When raw speed kicks in, no one can defeat Valtteri Bottas”

Wolff took time out to praise his departing driver for his tremendous talent and driving skills. The Finnish driver has claimed 20 pole positions and 10 wins during his time with Mercedes shows that he knows what it takes to succeed in a big team.

“We have seen he is absolutely there,” explained Wolff. “In some of the races, it is his and no one can take it away from him, like in Turkey. I’ve seen that throughout his career in F1 and I have seen that in F3, in Formula Renault, all these classes.”

“The raw speed is there and when the raw speed kicks in with Valtteri, nobody can beat him. Look at Turkey.” he continued.

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Bottas always failed to match Hamilton in terms of results, says Wolff

Wolff feels that everything was harder for Bottas as he was teamed up with one of the greatest drivers of all time. The 7-time World Champion always put pressure on him, and it’s not easy to deal with that.

“But then there are oscillations sometimes and I wonder whether that is the pressure or any other phenomenon.” said Toto.

“Easy to say when your team-mate is Lewis Hamilton, a seven-time world champion, and you have had ups and downs. Maybe that’s the consequence of Lewis as your team-mate when there nobody else in the 100-plus victory club. It’s only him.”