Valtteri Bottas has admitted that Lewis Hamilton‘s adjustment period at Ferrari in Formula 1 has taken longer than expected for a driver of his calibre.
With just three rounds remaining in the 2025 campaign, Hamilton has still failed to make it onto the podium with the Maranello-based squad.
Meanwhile, his team-mate, Charles Leclerc, has stepped on the rostrum seven times, scoring 66 more points than the seven-time F1 champion.
Despite that, Bottas has made it clear you can’t count out Hamilton, with whom he made over 100 starts alongside at Mercedes between 2017 and 2021.
Instead, he’s putting his money on the Briton to bounce back in 2026.
“It’s always a big change, especially for him,” Bottas said of Hamilton in an interview with Motorsport.com’s Brazilian arm.
“He spent a long time at Mercedes, so he got used to the way they work. He was very much the ‘team driver’, so it’s a big change, culturally, in terms of equipment, and language too.”
A different environment
With new team members and a different language, the Ferrari environment is often hailed as unique.
“I think everyone agrees that it’s taking him longer than expected to adapt, but he has shown his speed at times,” Bottas said.
“I think next year will show what he can still do.”
Beyond just believing that Hamilton will recover to fight at the front, he admitted the Briton has nothing left to prove, regardless.
“He has already proven everything he could in F1. I think he will be fine; he will be better next year,” he added.
Bottas also noted that Hamilton’s critics “underestimated Charles, how good he is”.
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