“I think you’ve got to remember who he’s driving up against,” Lewis Hamilton on why his team-mate Valtteri Bottas faces a huge deficit in points against him this season

Lewis Hamilton has had another great season in Formula 1, winning a record-equaling 7th World championship title, and his 4th year in a row. His 7th title moves him level with the legendary F1 driver, Michael Schumacher. However, his team-mate Valtteri Bottas has been under severe criticism, inspite of being 2nd on driver’s rankings. Both Hamilton and Bottas drive the same car (Mercedes) but for the majority of the season it has been Hamilton who outperform his team-mate.

Carlos Sainz, representing McLaren put forth the reason why Bottas is so far behind in points as compared to Hamilton. “90% would probably win races and pole positions at Mercedes. But if you put half the field against Hamilton in a Mercedes, 90% wouldn’t beat him.” said the Spaniard.

However, Hamilton had his own reasons for the same. He said that Bottas had been consistently raising his level over the past years, given how close the qualifying sessions have been this year. He also mentioned that Bottas had faced severa unfortunate incidents this year, including a late tyre failure at Silverstone, when he was destined for a 2nd place finish and damage to his at Monza. Incidents at Turkey and a power unit issue at Nurburgring also add to the list.

“The media have commented on ‘[Bottas] 2.0’ and it’s so true,” Hamilton said. “Every year you can see him just grafting away, chipping away at trying to raise the bar in so many different areas. You’ve seen this year, while yes, the points gap now is where it is, if you look at a lot of the qualifying [sessions], it was the smallest of margins. So closing the gap in qualifying, he has done already, which has made it quite challenging, Hamilton added.

“Of course there’s a points gap of seven points [between P1 and P2] and that consistently that over a period of time [adds up]. Valtteri has also been unfortunate this year with the reliability issues, so it makes it [the points gap] look even bigger than it is,” said Hamilton.

It’s not easy being my team-mate: Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton pointed out to the improvements made by Bottas this season, but at the same time said that he was also raising his level with every race. Hamilton has been way too consistent this season, with already 10 race wins up his sleeve. He sits comfortably at 307 points, a 110-point gap over his 2nd placed compatriot, Valtteri Bottas.

“When I talk about people needing to give Valtteri his due respect, I think you’ve got to remember who he’s driving up against,” Hamilton said. “It’s not easy being my team-mate. But he comes in every weekend in, weekend out, with just the same mentality. He’s never moaning, complaining that something is wrong with the car. It’s always just: I’ve got to do a better job,” Hamilton added.

“I don’t know any other driver that does that here, and I think that’s something we share in common, I’d like to think. We come into these weekends with a fresh head, and I think, mentally, he’s one of the strongest drivers here,” Hamilton concluded.

Also Read: “It doesn’t really matter, a second or third,” Max Verstappen on his chances of finishing 2nd in the F1 rankings