Valtteri Bottas pinpoints the moment he realised he ‘couldn’t beat’ Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

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Valtteri Bottas partnered Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for five seasons. He joined in 2017 following world champion Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement, and restored harmony to the team.

The relationship between Hamilton and Rosberg had become virtually non-existent, it seemed, by the time the German departed. But things were always cordial with Bottas.

In a sense, that reflects the Finn’s limitations. Had he been faster and more of a threat to Hamilton, there may have been tension.

Bottas would score 10 victories and 20 pole positions across his time at Brackley. He’d arrived with nine podiums under his belt from his time at Williams, but he added 58 more.

However, he never achieved his ultimate goal of winning a world championship in the midst of Mercedes’ historic dominance. Bottas exceeded expectations against Hamilton in qualifying, beating him 31 times out of 100, but only out-raced him on 25 occasions.

Ahead of the 2022 season, Toto Wolff decided to promote academy driver George Russell from Williams. That saw Bottas drop back into F1’s midfield with Sauber.

Valtteri Bottas took ‘five years’ to accept defeat against Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

During an interview with Auto Motor und Sport, Bottas was asked when he’d ‘accepted’ that Hamilton was simply better. He says that moment didn’t arrive until he knew he was leaving the team.

The 35-year-old had the misfortune of racing alongside the ‘peak’ version of Hamilton. He raised his game to defeat a resurgent Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel in 2017 and 2018, and was involved in an epic season-long battle with Max Verstappen in 2021.

There are perhaps similarities with the dynamic at Red Bull. Sergio Perez has momentarily threatened Verstappen, but it’s clear that he can’t sustain it.

Bottas was always a closer match for Hamilton, but his successor Russell has been a clear upgrade. The Englishman immediately outscored the seven-time world champion in 2022.

“It took me until the end of my five years with Mercedes to realise and accept that I couldn’t beat Lewis over a whole season,” Bottas said. “He was really at the peak of his abilities then. But that’s life. That’s racing.

Jenson Button recalls ‘ding dong’ with Lewis Hamilton over McLaren team orders

Hamilton has rarely had the privilege of being a team’s clear number-one. He started his career against two-time world champion Fernando Alonso in 2007, and faced another title winner in Jenson Button between 2010 and 2012.

Mercedes maintained parity between Hamilton and Rosberg, much as they have done with Russell, despite the 39-year-old’s superior track record. Only against Finnish duo Heikki Kovalainen and Bottas has he been the obvious lead driver.

Earlier this week, Button recalled a ‘ding dong’ with Hamilton over team orders at McLaren. The pit wall had told Hamilton that he wouldn’t come under threat from the sister car as he tried to save fuel, but that message wasn’t relayed to Button, leading to an unexpected battle.

In the modern era, Button believes Hamilton and Russell are the ‘standout’ duo in F1. The former is 19 points ahead in the championship, but the latter has a 13-5 advantage over a single lap.