Lewis Hamilton says he is interested to see how far his new Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas will go to win in Formula 1 and how quickly he will adapt to handle the pressure of being in a race-winning team.
Bottas has replaced world champion Nico Rosberg at Mercedes, following the German's surprise decision to retire from the sport as world champion.
With the Brackley-based team favourites for the title once again, Hamilton is hoping Bottas will quickly blend into the team and start maximising the points available from the first race, to ensure Mercedes is in the best possible position to challenge for a fourth-straight constructors' title.
"It doesn’t matter who they are or where they come from, I know where I come from and I’m there to win," Hamilton said during a Q&A with sponsor UBS. "So my goal remains exactly the same and really with a new team-mate you hope they blend in, you hope they’re a positive guy for the team.
"There’s over a thousand people in our team so it’s not just about me, it’s not just about him or her. For example I’ve had years where I’ve put in good results but my team-mate hasn’t and we should have won the [constructors'] championship, but all those guys [at the factory] didn’t win the world championship because the other wasn’t able to back me up."
The Briton is interested to see how fare Bottas is willing to go to win, but overall Hamilton is confident of a good relationship because Bottas is a "calm and very relaxed" Finn.
"It’s interesting to see how it’s going to go, how quick he’ll be, how quick he adapts, how he deals with pressure, all those little things," added Hamilton.
"I always say the most fascinating thing is the mind of my competitors. The limits they will go to to win. Some people would sell their mum to win a race (laughs), some would sell their soul and other things. It’s interesting to see where Valtteri will go.
"It’s going to be good, Finnish people are usually lovely, lovely people and very calm and very relaxed. He’s got lots of positives coming with him just being a Finn."
Discussion about this post