Lewis Hamilton has hailed his new Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas, claiming he has a better working relationship with the Finn than any previous team-mate during his time in Formula 1.
Although the pair have only been team-mates for a couple of months, Hamilton says Bottas' no nonsense attitude means there are no games, allowing them to both focus on doing the best job possible on-track.
It comes after a turbulent relationship with former team-mate Nico Rosberg, with the pair often clashing on and off track.
"What I so far like about working with Valtteri is that it is all to do with the track – what we do on the circuit – and not outside," Hamilton told the official Formula 1 website. "There are no games – there is complete transparency. I like that.
"I feel we already have a better working relationship than I ever had with any team mate I had before.
"He wants to do the best thing that he can in his first year with the team – and with me being here for quite a while now, I want to deliver and make sure that I give as much information so that he will learn. And we do our talking on the track!"
Discussing F1's new cars, Hamilton described them as the most physical he's ever driven and says no matter how much a driver exercises, they still "whoop your ass" when you get behind the wheel.
"Let me tell you about training and a new season: you work out, and work out, and work out – and then you get into the car and it whoops your ass!
"This year in particular – these are the hardest cars I have ever driven. My guess is that in the next couple of months we will see transformation in peoples’ neck sizes and their physical ‘presence’."
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