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Bottas: It would be stupid not to watch Hamilton closely

Valtteri Bottas has warned Lewis Hamilton he'll be watching his new Mercedes team-mate very closely in order to find any extra advantages as the pair prepare for battle in the 2017 F1 world championship.

The Finn has made an immediate impression at Mercedes since stepping in as Nico Rosberg's replacement after the German retired just days after clinching the F1 world title last November.

Both Bottas and Hamilton feel their working relationship as got off to a positive start as Bottas adapts to his new team and the Finn has confirmed he's been playing close attention to Hamilton's feedback to engineers during pre-season testing to get a greater understanding of the W08.

"I've been working hard with the engineers and with Lewis in the meetings to give all the feedback we can and looking at all the data," Bottas said. "It has been interesting to hear Lewis's comments in more detail.

"Obviously being aware of how he is setting up his car and seeing a bit more about his driving style and all these things. There are many things [I can learn].

"I won't pick out certain things but having a new team-mate there is always something you can learn and Lewis is going to be a guy that I am going to be watching closely as it would be stupid not to."

The comments come after Hamilton expressed his frustration at having to share his car data with his team-mates which he feels can give some drivers unfair advantages.

Despite accepting he will be keenly looking over Hamilton's data, Bottas is also hoping to learn from other key team members to improve his personal performance in the car.

"I think in the team there are many other people who are extremely clever who I can learn massively from," he said. "I think this gives me a good opportunity to get to the next level in my performance with all the technical understanding and everything.

"There is so much new information coming so I will take in as much as I can, it is very interesting." 

Zdroj: crash.net