Mercedes say Hamilton-Bottas not like Hamilton-Rosberg; Bottas aware situation could get less cordial among top four
Tuesday 2 May 2017 10:15, UK
Mercedes are confident the relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will not deteriorate if they are both in the hunt for Formula 1's world title as the season progresses.
Bottas suggested he could join his Mercedes team-mate and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel in the battle for the Drivers' Championship after claiming an impressive maiden F1 victory in Russia on Sunday.
The Finn now trails Hamilton by just 10 points, with Vettel leading the standings by 13, after an opening four rounds in which Mercedes and Ferrari have claimed two wins apiece.
Despite finishing off the podium in fourth, Hamilton made a beeline for Bottas to congratulate him immediately after the race, with the pair enjoying a friendly team-mate relationship so far.
But while initial cordial relations between Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes eventually soured amid the weight of head-to-head title fights, Toto Wolff is not expecting his new-look pairing to suffer from the same problems.
"The relationship between the two of them is very intact," said the Mercedes executive director.
"Lewis was one of the first ones to congratulate Valtteri on his first race victory and that shows the respect they have towards each other. Nevertheless, both of them are fierce competitors and they will want to win races and fight for a championship.
"But I don't think it will affect the relationship and the dynamics within the team like it did in the last years between Nico and Lewis. That's a completely different relationship."
Bottas aware title fight might get 'tricky'
If, as the current form book suggests, the battle for this year's both championships will distill into direct battles between Mercedes, Ferrari and their four drivers then Bottas is clearly the least experienced of the quartet.
The 27-year-old welcomed the warm words of praise he received from Vettel, Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen after the race ,but acknowledged relations could get more tense the deeper into the season the battle goes.
"[Lewis] congratulated me, he said he's very happy for me, so that was very nice from him. We've been able to be very professional about everything so far," said Bottas.
"If he's been in front of me I've always told him honestly as I feel that he's done a great job and vice versa. It's good to see that from a many-time world champion, so we are working well as a team.
"Also even today the Ferrari drivers said 'well done' and so on. It's going to be a long year and a lot of fighting with all these guys and at some point things might get a bit more tricky and tight if and when it comes to the championship fight. There might be less talking and more fighting on track."
Is Bottas now a genuine title contender?
After coming into the Sochi weekend having to answer questions about whether he would be cast into a number two role at Mercedes in what was widely expected to be a direct Vettel versus Hamilton duel for the title, Bottas' impressive victory has raised the spectre of at least a three-driver fight for the crown.
However, the Finn says he is simply focusing on helping Mercedes stay ahead of Ferrari.
"It's only the beginning of the year so it's always difficult to draw conclusions, how the season is going to be, who is going to be ahead and so on," he said.
"So that's why I wasn't too worried with the gap to the front. Before this weekend it was 30 points or something and that kind of gap has gone in the past in just a few races if one has a good one and one has a bad one. So that's okay.
"It's way too early to look at the championship in detail, we are just focusing on getting the car better and that will give us more wins and more points with both cars."
Don't miss all the reaction from Sochi and tune in for the F1 Report: Russian GP Review on Sky Sports F1 on Wednesday night at 8.30pm
