Valtteri Bottas says that last December in front of the whole Mercedes factory he told Lewis Hamilton: “Lewis, you are better than me”.
In an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick, Valtteri Bottas made an interesting admission – he said that during a meeting with the team at Mercedes’ factory in Brackley, he publicly told Lewis Hamilton that he was a better driver.
“We had a meeting at the factory in December 2021,” Bottas said.
“Everyone was there and I said it very loudly to everyone – ‘Lewis, you are better than me!'”
The Finn then explained that on his “good days” he was capable of beating Lewis, but he lacked consistency to make it a regular thing.
“On good days I could beat Lewis, no problem. But his base level was so high that he could just pull off the performances he needed.
“The next drivers who are next to him in the same team will have a hard time beating him over a season as well.
“It’s very hard to accept, because every driver rates himself very highly.”
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Despite not reaching his goal of becoming a world champion, Valtteri says it was an honour to drive for Mercedes.
“Of course it is an honour to drive for Mercedes. But the pressure is not so high in hardly any other team. Mainly because you are next to Lewis Hamilton.
“You are compared in almost every practice session.”
Bottas also dismissed the notion that Lewis’ dominance is a result of his talent alone, and said that the Briton works very hard to be the best..
“That’s wrong. Lewis almost works harder behind closed doors than he does on the track.
“He also uses every spare minute on race weekends to stay in top form in terms of fitness and asks all the right questions to all the right people.
“There’s no time wasted with him,” the Finn concluded.