Valtteri Bottas Admits Five Years of Denial Against Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes F1 Duel
Valtteri Bottas Admits Five Years of Denial Against Lewis Hamilton in Mercedes F1 Duel
The Finnish, Valtteri Botas has recently said that he felt five years of denial against Lewis Hamilton during his time in Mercedes.
For Five years valtteri has drove alongside Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes team. During their time together, Hamilton has grabbed a steller 50 victories and Four consecutive F1 world titles while the Finnish driver only got 10 victories and 2 runner ups to consolidate about.
Following the shock retirement of the newly crowned F1 champion Nico Rosberg in 2017, Valtteri Bottas had joint the Mercedes team from Williams racing. And there the Finnish driver has stayed for five years until a 2022 move to sauber.
Reflecting back at his time in Mercedes during an interview he said ” I was in a state of denial for almost five years because I wanted to come back into the season every year and then fight for the title, and I had to believe in myself. “
Bottas stated that he only understood this during his final season with Mercedes in 2021,after it became clear that he would lose his seat to George Russell of Williams and he came to terms in loosing out head to head.
He Finn further added “It was only when I knew that I was leaving the team then that I noticed that I was a bit more fine with certain things
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1st position, and Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 3rd position, celebrate on the podium
“I was allowing to accept some of those kind of things. So, for sure, in your career, you go through those kind of things…
“With Lewis, only in the last year could I accept to myself that in equal machinery over a period of a full season, I really struggled to beat him and that he’s probably better in certain areas. As a racing driver, to admit that to yourself, is hard.”
Although Valtteri Bottas previously denied all ths flags, he now certainly opened up about his times in the Mercedes team .
