Valtteri Bottas cannot see Lewis Hamilton’s new Mercedes teammate George Russell beating him in the 2022 season.
Russell joined Toto Wolff’s team ahead of the 2022 campaign, which starts in Bahrain in March, after Bottas left to join Alfa Romeo. Hamilton came close to winning a record eighth world title in 2021 and the Finnish star cannot see Russell taking the Mercedes crown from Hamilton.
“I don’t see anyone else beating Lewis in the near future in the same machinery,” he told SunSport. “George will adjust well because he has been with Mercedes for some years.
“But beating Lewis is not easy. I have experienced that... Every driver has form that is a little bit up and down, but his baseline for performance is just so high,” he explained.
“Even when he has a bad day it is not too bad. It is his consistency over the season. Another of his key strengths is his ability to adapt to different conditions, the skill to react to changes, be it set-up or whatever.
“This and his race-craft. His tyre management is a special skill and all these things are combined with talent. And he puts in the work, which not many people see, so he is hard to beat. I can be proud that on my day, I’ve been able to beat him. But not consistently enough to beat him over a season.”
Bottas’ assessment for how Russell’s performance could go at Mercedes is the polar opposite to that of former driver Ralf Schumacher. He believes he can get ahead of Hamilton from the first race.
“I thought it was interesting how gentle the two drivers, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, were with each other [at the launch],” said Schumacher, quoted by Speedweek. “The young Russell was very careful with his comments and emphasised he wants to learn a lot now.
“The tone was quite different when George replaced Lewis in Bahrain 2020 (at the Sakhir Grand Prix when Hamilton had Covid) and drove alongside Valtteri Bottas. But I’m convinced that internally it looks different, and I already believe he can beat Lewis from the start.”
