“We still support each other today” - Lewis Hamilton heaps praise on former teammate despite 'conflict of interest'

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamiton has praised former Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas for the relationship they have built over the years.

Bottas moved to Mercedes from Williams Racing in 2017 after Nico Rosberg announced his retirement from the sport. He spent five years with the Silver Arrows, partnering with Lewis Hamilton during his time there.

From 2017 to 2020, Hamilton won four F1 titles back-to-back as Bottas played second fiddle to the Briton. Bottas never came close to challenging Hamilton for the title, with his best results at Mercedes being a pair of P2 finishes in the drivers' standings in 2019 and 2020.

In total, Bottas raced for Mercedes 101 times and found himself on the podium 58 times, including 10 race wins.

Recalling his partnership with Bottas, Hamilton heaped praise on the 33-year-old for the manner in which he carried himself, despite having 'a conflict of interest' when fighting for the F1 title. He said:

“Valtteri was just such a great teammate and colleague, and when I talk about teammate, I don't know if people really think about it. But there’s like a conflict of interest here in us, we've got two championships, a team championship, which we hired to do, and then a driver's championship. So our job is to score the most points individually or collectively for the team but ultimately, you want to beat your teammate.”

He added:

“And so there's always this internal rivalry, it’s always a very, very delicate path to walk down. It's very easy to be on the wrong side and you fall out or whatever. Valtteri and I never fell out. We always just spoke on things, he was very much just like he has got to a better job or I've got to do a better job if one of us beat each other. And we worked together to try and push the team together.”

Although Bottas swapped Mercedes for Alfa Romeo in 2022, Hamilton has revealed that the two remain close friends to date and even travel together to and from races during the season. He stated:

“So I’ve had amazing years together where he supported me and I supported him and we still support each other today. And we traveled together to races quite often, to and from races during the year. Yeah, it was pretty cool.”

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“I really couldn’t take it, I really struggled, it was not fun” - Valtteri Bottas on partnering Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes

While Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas share a close relationship, the Briton's dominance almost drove the latter to the brink of retiring from Formula 1.

In a conversation on the Motor Sport Magazine Podcast, Bottas reflected on his time with Mercedes and said:

“At the end of 2018, I almost stopped, it was so close. Just because of the fact that I couldn’t understand and take the fact that I couldn’t beat Lewis [Hamilton] in those two years. I put so much pressure on myself. Towards the end of ’18, especially when I started to have the support role in the team, I really couldn’t take it, I really struggled. It was not fun.”