Hakkinen names key ingredient in Hamilton's successes

Lewis Hamilton is a big man in Formula 1 with seven world championships. However, according to Mika Hakkinen, the British driver could not achieve these successes without teammates helping him, he said in an interview with Formula1.com.

With Nico Rosberg, Valtteri Bottas and George Russell, Hamilton experienced different types of drivers at Mercedes. Hakkinen saw that Rosberg and Bottas were able to loosen something in the Briton that made him capable of competing for the world titles.

"To be able to be a winner requires a great team mate," Hakkinen stated in the interview. "A very important, key part. Sometimes it happens luckily; you cannot choose the team mate, but if you look at the list of team mates that Lewis had, very smart people, extremely great racing drivers."

This season, Russell is managing to outperform Hamilton for the time being. However, with a 19-point lead, the seven-time world champion is keeping an eye on his teammate. In France, Hamilton started the race from fourth position while Russell secured sixth.