Valtteri Bottas claims Lewis Hamilton 'copied his setup' on several occasions

Outgoing Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has claimed that he always had a slight edge over Lewis Hamilton in qualifying and that the latter often had to copy his setup in qualifying. Bottas feels that although Hamilton always had the upper hand over him in race pace, especially in tire management, he would oftentimes produce better performances in qualifying.

Speaking of his time racing alongside Lewis Hamilton in a post-season interview with GPfans, Bottas said:

"Many times, he had to copy my setup for the qualifying last minute."

"Driving style-wise, tire management is one of his big strengths, and in any condition and circumstances, he always finds a way, how to be able to extend a stint or the best way to efficiently keep the tires in a good condition."

"That race pace and tire management part has probably been the biggest difference between me and Lewis and consistency is what he's had with those things."

Bottas’ claims are somewhat backed by his results with the Brackley team. While he has often struggled to consistently match Hamilton in terms of race pace, the Finn has produced some excellent qualifying performances to snatch away pole positions from his teammate.

But his inconsistent performances, and often the lack of race pace, meant that most of the time he would fail to convert poles into race victories. This was especially apparent during the 2020 season when Mercedes had the dominant car, and Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were the only real contenders for the championship. Despite taking pole five times throughout the season, Bottas only managed to win once.

Valtteri Bottas claims Lewis Hamilton’s dominant position at Mercedes hindered his career with the team

Valtteri Bottas claims that Lewis Hamilton’s “dominant” position within Mercedes never allowed him a chance to “lead” the team, and potentially hindered his own career with the team. Bottas feels that although Mercedes have never treated him “unfairly”, a more equitable approach to driver status would have allowed him to flourish.

Speaking at a post-season interview with GPfans, Bottas, who’s heading to Alfa Romeo in 2022, said:

"I feel like in the last few years, he's been more in a lead role, and for me, it's been quite difficult to try and take a lead role, because he's been, obviously, here before and he's pretty dominant in the way he works with a team.”

Throughout his five-year stint with the Brackley team, Bottas achieved nearly a dozen race victories, double the pole position and more podiums. However, he failed to mount a serious title challenge against teammate Lewis Hamilton, despite being equipped with easily the fastest car on the grid.

Heading to Alfa Romeo, Bottas hopes to finally emerge out of Hamilton’s shadow and potentially lead the Swiss team’s ascension towards the front grid as F1 prepares to introduce radically different cars from the upcoming season.