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 easily.

The Finn is currently holding onto P4 in the drivers’ standings having secured barely 32 points as opposed to Lewis Hamilton’s 69. 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 to George Russell, who could be a future Mercedes driver. The race in Imola, where Russell lapped faster than the Mercedes driver, only made things worse for Bottas.

Amidst such flak, 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 a break for Bottas, 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 were being thrown against Bottas, claiming that the Finn has been a boon to the team.

“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. However, the 9-time GP winner still has a lot of time left to try to break into title contention. Hence, will Bottas manage to prove the critics wrong and challenge his teammate over the race weekend in Barcelona?

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