Valtteri Bottas joined the Alfa Romeo racing for the 2022 season. Before this, the Finnish driver enjoyed 5 full seasons at the Mercedes AMG team alongside Lewis Hamilton. Although he proved to be a great teammate to the 7-time world champion, he could not win the championship against him. Bottas reflected that he went toe-to-toe against a living legend and was proud of that fact.

In the press conference at the Alfa Romeo livery launch, Valtteri accepted the fact that Hamilton was a better driver. He recognized that he had five good years alongside Sir Lewis Hamilton.

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Lewis Hamilton definitely made me work hard: Valtteri Bottas

As reported by The Race, the Finnish driver expressed how he was unbeatable on his best days. However, he just didn’t have enough of them.

“I had a great five years with Lewis as his teammate, and now actually thinking about it, it was an honor. Like, he’s a living legend!” said Valtteri.

“And he’s a great guy and a great driver–really fast. He definitely made me work hard to try and beat him. Sometimes I could, but on a season average, I couldn’t. So that’s how it goes. You always meet–eventually–someone who’s better than you and you need to accept it.”

“And I’m fine with it. I’m happy that sometimes when I was at my best that I could beat him. But we came a long way. We achieved so much together, so many 1-2 results.”

“Five constructors’ championships together. I learned from him about life and about racing, and maybe vice versa as well. So, it was a really good time with him,” said Bottas.

It is great to see that even after switching teams, the Finnish driver can still look back at his stint with Mercedes fondly. He is a bigger man in accepting that his teammate got the better of him when they went toe-to-toe.

Hopefully, Bottas can use his experience and learnings from his time at Mercedes at Alfa Romeo. The team would be relying on Bottas to guide them and take them to the midfield of the grid.

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