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Valtteri Bottas says if he was not a team player that would have meant “less cooperation between me and Lewis” and subsequently “not as good performance as a team”.
At the end of 2021 Valtteri Bottas concluded his five-year tenure as a Mercedes driver. On the Beyond the Grid podcast the Finn was asked if he might have accomplished more of his personal goals had he been less of a team player.
“If only I knew the answer to that,” Bottas replied.
“If there’s something I would have done different, how it would have impacted [my chances].
“All I know [is] that if I hadn’t been such a team player, there would have been more tension in the team.
“That would mean less cooperation between me and Lewis. That would mean, in [the] long-term, not as good performance as a team, as we have now.
“Because, if there’s harmony, if we can work together, then we’re playing for [the] long-term, for the best interests of the team.
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“We can develop the car together and we can discuss things openly. I’ll always try to think about that.”
However, Bottas pointed out that having only one-year contracts, and not being certain about his future, also prevented him from acting up more.
“There’s been always this factor that I’ve been always on [a] one-year contract, and if I start playing around, what happens then?
“Also not having the knowledge of the future and what happens if I start to not to listen to the team or team orders, etc.
“It’s been always a factor as well,” Valtteri concluded.
