Valtteri Bottas has looked back on his time at Mercedes as Lewis Hamilton’s teammate. The Finn admits that it was not easy being second driver and that he actually had to fool himself. According to Bottas, Sergio Pérez is currently in a similar situation.
It is always difficult to play second fiddle to the first driver in a team. Rubens Barrichello regularly said how difficult it was as a teammate of Michael Schumacher. Felipe Massa received the infamous ‘Fernando is faster than you’ instruction when he was Alonso’s teammate at Ferrari. Mark Webber regularly showed his dissatisfaction as the second driver behind Sebastian Vettel.
Bottas at Mercedes
In more recent years you only had to look at Mercedes to see such a situation again. Valtteri Bottas regularly performed well, but the team’s clear focus was really on Lewis Hamilton. And not entirely unjustified: in their time together, Hamilton won fifty races, compared to Bottas’ ten. According to Bottas himself, there was only one way to really keep that up, he explains Motorsport.com.
“You have to be in a bit of a state of denial,” Bottas reflects. “I was in denial for almost five years, because every year I wanted to do better and then fight for the title and I wanted to believe in myself. It wasn’t until I knew I was leaving the team that I noticed that I could face certain things a little better. I allowed myself to accept some of those things. It was only in that last year that I could accept that I could not beat Lewis in similar cars and that he was simply better in a number of areas. As a driver it is very difficult to admit that.”
Sergio Perez
Bottas is of course not the only driver who has to lose out to a stronger teammate. According to the Finn, Sergio Pérez is currently in a similar situation and Pérez also tells himself the fantasy that he can possibly beat Max Verstappen. Pérez himself only partially agrees with this.
“We have had a few races this year in which we indeed lost control,” the Mexican admits Fox Sports Mexico. “If you look at it from the outside, it was a difficult year. At the beginning I had that dream of fighting for the title because I was so strong in those first few races. There were a number of moments after that that I could very easily have gone under and failed completely.”
“But I think the recovery after that has defined our season the best,” Pérez continues. “It wasn’t a failure. We clawed our way back again. We always come back, and that’s the most important thing about this year. Ultimately, this was the best year ever for Red Bull. Of course I also look back on the most important lessons of this year. If I can take that into next year, I think it will help everyone on my team do even better in 2024.”
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2023-12-27 19:02:44
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