Blaž Štremfelj
Valtteri Bottas he admitted that he had suffered severe psychological shockwhen he was first asked by Mercedes, to help a team rival Lewis Hamilton.
The Finn drove at times better than the British, but he never managed to compete throughout the season, which makes him frequent had to accept the role of assistant. But overall, he thinks the German team was fair to him.
"In general, yes," he said. “Especially at the beginning of the seasons, but definitely there until the middle. If there was a difference in points between us, the team, of course, started thinking about who has a better chance of becoming the champion in the end. I think that behavior and decision-making then change subconsciously. ”
Bottas had to help quite a few times Hamilton and him even let go of victory. One such example is the race for 2018 Russian Grand Prix, which severely affected Finca. “I used to play the role of assistant clearly and loudly and when it happened for the first time, probably in 2018, I had a hard time accepting it. It was very difficult for me. Mentally, this was not good for me, as my thoughts went black. But in time, you accept these things if you have fewer points. ”
The Finn is at the end of last season left Mercedes and moved to Alfa Romeo, where he will test himself in the role of team leader next to newcomer Guanyu Zhou. “I'm really looking forward to it, because that was one of the reasons I switched to Alfa. I am ready to take on a lot of responsibility. This will be my tenth season and I am convinced that I can make very good use of everything I have learned from Williams and Mercedes, ” he added.
