Bottas gives Russell clear advice: 'I have experienced that'

Valtteri Bottas left Mercedes after last season to join Alfa Romeo. This year he is watching George Russell replace him at the German racing stable. According to Bottas, Russell does not have to think that he can just beat teammate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton has been the big man of Mercedes for many years. In recent years, only Nico Rosberg managed to outperform the Briton for one season. Rosberg decided to leave Formula 1 immediately after his world title, and Bottas came in as his replacement. However, that challenge proved to be more difficult than anticipated.

Where Mercedes hoped that the Finn could become a serious competitor to Hamilton, the opposite turned out to be the case. Bottas had great difficulty reaching the high level of Hamilton and at the end of 2021 decided to leave Mercedes without any major successes.

At the German formation, the hope is that Russell will do better, but Bottas warns the talent against laziness. "Beating Lewis is not easy. I have experienced that. It is his consistency in his performances," Bottas explains to The Sun. "Every driver has form that is a little bit up and down, but his baseline for performance is just so high."