Bottas: 'I was in denial against Hamilton at Mercedes'

Valtteri Bottas has described how he was in a "state of denial"when racing alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Following NicoRosberg's shock retirement after winning the 2016 title, Bottas wassigned as his replacement, and would go onto win 10 Grands Prix inhis five-year stay with the team, who also claimed fiveConstructors' titles. Bottas was able to defeat Hamilton over asingle lap in qualifying about one-third of the time, but wasunable to match the Briton across a full-season in races, with hisbest finish in the championship being runner-up in 2019 and 2020.Hamilton claimed four of the five titles on offer while Bottas wasat Mercedes, with the Finn electing to depart after the 2021 seasonto Alfa Romeo-Sauber, with the extra security of a long-termcontract in place, in a departure from one-year deals at Mercedes.Reflecting on how hard it was to be Hamilton's team-mate, Bottasexplained how he needed to be in denial to compete. "You have to bein denial, and I was in denial for almost five years because everyyear, I wanted to get back to the season and then fight for thetitle and I had to believe in myself," the Finn explained whilstspeaking to Motorsport.com. "It was only when I knew that I wasleaving the team then that I noticed that I was a bit more finewith certain things. “With Lewis, only in the last year could Iaccept to myself that in equal machinery over a period of a fullseason, I really struggled to beat him and that he's probablybetter in certain areas. "As a racing driver, to admit that toyourself, is hard. "I have no regrets because it was a trickysituation for me because I was every year on a one-year contract."I knew that if I wanted to fight for the title, I needed to beburied in this team. If I started to be an a**ehole, I would losemy job pretty easily. They could always get someone else."