Lewis Hamilton is anticipating Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas will be better prepared to deal with the challenge of fighting for the Formula 1 championship in 2018.
The Finn made a late move in January to the Brackley-based team for this past season, replacing Nico Rosberg after his shock retirement, and impressed scoring the first three poles and three wins of his F1 career.
Certainly, his contribution was decisive in Mercedes easing to a fourth consecutive Constructors’ title and the now four-time world champion praising how Bottas adjusted from a midfield team in Williams to the dominant force of the past few seasons.
“Valtteri’s been an amazing teammate this year,” said Hamilton. “It’s not easy at all to go to a team for the first year, particularly as you already had plans to be somewhere else at the beginning of the year.”
The second half of the year did see a dip in the 28-year-old’s performance which dropped him back from the title battle but the Briton is sure Bottas will learn from the experience, highlighting his performance in Abu Dhabi.
“The pressures of fighting for a world championship is not the easiest of things,” he admitted. “He’s very strong-minded and he came back and finished up strong so I anticipate he’s going to be stronger next year, so I’m going to make sure I’m on my toes.”
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The change in atmosphere the former GP3 champion’s arrival also brought at Mercedes was very noticeable, after the increasing tensions between Hamilton and Rosberg over the past three years.
“There’s incredible respect between us and our work ethic is similar and I think our family morals are similar,” Lewis explained.
“There’s nothing in the background happening at all, there’s zero, there’s perfect harmony within the team. We just want to be quickest on the track, he’s not trying to do it any other way but through his talent, and he sees that with me, which is why it’s super easy to get on.”
