"No driver can beat Lewis in the same car" – Lewis Hamilton's former teammate details going up against 7-time F1 champion

Valtteri Bottas says an “incredibly consistent” Lewis Hamilton would be “hard to beat” for anyone driving the same machinery as the seven-time world champion. Bottas, who partnered Hamilton at Mercedes for half-a-decade, doesn’t expect his replacement, George Russell, to be on the same level as Hamilton throughout the season.

Speaking in an interview with The Sun, ahead of the first pre-season testing later this month, Bottas said:

“I don’t see anyone else beating Lewis in the near future in the same machinery. George [Russel] will adjust well because he has been with Mercedes for some years. But beating Lewis is not easy. I have experienced that. It is his consistency in his performances. His baseline for performance is just so high. Even when he has a bad day it is not too bad. It is his consistency over the season.”

Bottas believes Lewis Hamilton’s ability to quickly adapt to different, and often adverse, conditions, such as setup changes, are one of his key strengths. Furthermore, the Finn credits Hamilton’s race craft, and his “special” ability to manage his tires, as some of the features that make him nearly unbeatable.

Throughout his time as Hamilton’s teammate, the Finn struggled to match the former on a consistent basis, despite showing glimpses of potential. On his good days, Bottas was nearly untouchable and would go on to assert his dominance.

Those good days, however, were few and far between, which meant his performances throughout the season were wildly inconsistent compared to his teammate.

Despite spending five seasons with the Silver Arrows and being armed with arguably some of the most dominant cars in F1 history, Bottas failed to mount a serious championship challenge of his own.

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George Russell would be better off working with Lewis Hamilton rather than against him

After spending the first three years of his F1 career mostly at the back of the grid with Williams, George Russell is finally stepping up to race for Mercedes from the upcoming season.

Touted as one of the most promising drivers of the new generation, as well as the future of Mercedes in a post-Hamilton era, Russell carries a tremendous amount of pressure on his shoulders heading into the season.

Many have predicted fireworks between the two teammates, as they believe the young Briton will seek to assert himself against his idol Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows. In 2022, however, Russell has more reasons to co-operate and help his teammate fight for the world title rather than trying to beat him.

The most important reason being the strict guidelines that Mercedes have reportedly implemented to avoid a repeat of the infamous Lewis Hamilton-Nico Rosberg rivalry. After Russell’s signing was announced, team principal Toto Wolff made it abundantly clear that he would not tolerate anything less than “clean racing” from the young Briton.

Furthermore, with the sweeping new aerodynamic regulations, teams have no idea as to where they will stack up on the grid order once the season starts. If Mercedes were to find themselves not in the optimum position, it would make sense for Russell to think about the team first, rather than handing over potential points to their rivals.

If he wants to stay at the Silver Arrows long-term and potentially become a future world champion, Russell has every reason to support his teammate in 2022, rather than trying to seek glory for himself.