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‘Let Him Focus’ – Lewis Hamilton Speaks Up for Bottas Amidst the Ever-Growing Criticisms
It has not been an easy phase for Valtteri Bottas since his shift to Mercedes from Williams back in 2017. What’s more, his performances have evidently gone downhill over the ongoing season losing out to Lewis Hamilton rather straightforwardly.
The Finn is currently holding onto P4 in the driver’s standings, securing just 32 points as opposed to Lewis Hamilton’s 69 points. Hence, considering the string of poor performances, critics have been quite harsh on the Mercedes driver.
Meanwhile, fans are exerting even more pressure on Bottas, consistently comparing him with George Russell, who could be a future Mercedes driver. And the race in Imola, where Russell lapped faster than the Mercedes driver only made things worse for Bottas.
Amidst such criticisms looming over Bottas, his teammate, who won two out of the three races this season, finally decided to lend him some support.
The 7-time world champion demanded that critics need to give Bottas a break, as he needs time to get back on the horse. Moreover, with just 3 races over and 20 more to go, Hamilton opined that the Finn could join the championship battle soon.
What did Lewis Hamilton say?
According to Race Fans, Hamilton countered the criticisms that are being thrown against Bottas, reckoning the Finn has been an amazing player for the entire team so far.
“If I’m really honest, I’ve not given it a lot of thought,” he said. “But from what I’ve experienced from the relationship that I have, of course, with Valtteri I think he’s been an amazing teammate, as I’ve always said.
“I feel we have the best line-up currently in terms of deliverables, in terms of the equilibrium that’s within our team and the general knowledge, in terms of moving our car forwards,” Hamilton continued.
“At some stage, it’s going to shift. It’s going to change. I’m not going to be here forever. Valtteri won’t be here forever. But right now I think we’ve delivered time and time again over the years and we continue to.
“Valtteri just qualified on pole the last race. It’s only the fourth race. I think people need to give him a break and just let him focus on doing what he’s doing.”
Overall, it has been a harsh couple of weeks for Bottas. But, the 9-time GP winner still has abundant time left in hand to try and creep his way back to form. Hence, will Bottas manage to prove the critics wrong challenge his teammate over the race weekend in Barcelona?
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