Valtteri Bottas breaks silence on Lewis Hamilton's move to Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton's former teammate Valtteri Bottas feels the 7x world champion is highly motivated this season owing to a move to Ferrari. The Brit shocked the F1 world when he decided that it was time for him to pursue for an eighth title with a team that isn't Mercedes.

He had joined the German team in 2013 and had achieved tremendous success. From 2014 to 2021, Mercedes won 8 constructors championships while Lewis Hamilton himself won as many as 6 world titles. It was, however, the start of the new ground effect era that proved to be the kryptonite for the team and the driver.

In 2022, Mercedes would win only one race while Lewis Hamilton would fail to even achieve that. In 2023, both the driver and the team went winless. Looking at the team's trajectory and the kind of results that were being achieved, Hamilton made the call to move to Ferrari and try to achieve his record-breaking 8th world title with the Italian team.

As Lewis Hamilton gets ready for life at Ferrari, his teammate from 2017 to 2021 at Mercedes, Valtteri Bottas, was questioned about the Brit's move to the Italian team, to which the Finn said that the driver is highly motivated for the year. He told Sky Sports,

“Of course, he’s highly motivated for the year. It’s something new and refreshing for him, which can be a good trigger sometimes. But also keen to see how they get on with Charles [Leclerc]."

Valtteri Bottas hopes Lewis Hamilton's former team is potentially in the fight for the championship in 2025

Looking ahead to the 2025 F1 season, Valtteri Bottas felt that the season was going to be very interesting because as many as 4 different teams could be very close to each other. Last season saw as many as 7 drivers including Lewis Hamilton win a race, showing how unpredictable things were. Hoping that Mercedes is potentially in the fight for the title, the Finn said,

“It’s going to be good to watch, I can already tell that. Because the gaps are quite small at the top, even between four, five teams, it’s going to be really hard to predict, which is good. I think it’s good for the spectators, it’s good for the sport. The first few races will give a direction, but, like we saw last year with the small margins, if somebody makes a step, that’s a game changer."

He added,

“Of course, I hope that Mercedes can be in the fight for the championship which is everyone’s target over here [this season].”

Bottas was teammates with Hamilton from 2017 to 2021 and during this period, the driver finished second in the championship twice in 2019 and 2020.