Lewis Hamilton explains why Valtteri Bottas is different to previous team-mates

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

Hamilton explains why Bottas is different to previous team-mates

The Mercedes duo will be split at the end of the season after five years together

Ewan Gale

Thursday 7 October 2021 05:00

Lewis Hamilton has revealed how Valtteri Bottas differs from the rest of his team-mates in F1.

Bottas and Hamilton will end their five-year partnership at Mercedes when the current season ends with the Finn moving to Alfa Romeo, making way for George Russell to step up to the Silver Arrows.

In an interview with Sky Italia, Hamilton said: "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.

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"There has never 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."

Hamilton has taken learnings from each team-mate

Russell will be Hamilton's sixth team-mate in F1 after Fernando Alonso, Heikki Kovalainen, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and Bottas.

Asked which of the previous drivers provided the biggest challenge as a team-mate, Hamilton explained: "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."