Mercedes boss Toto Wolff reveals what Lewis Hamilton said to him about Valtteri Bottas
LEWIS HAMILTON rated Valtteri Bottas as one of the F1 paddock's nice guys even before he agreed to join Mercedes.
By
James Gray
James Gray
PUBLISHED:
09:21, Thu, Jan 19, 2017
| UPDATED: 09:32, Thu, Jan 19, 2017
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Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas will be team-mates at Mercedes in 2017
Nico Rosberg's sudden retirement just days after beating Lewis Hamilton to the F1 World Drivers' Championship left Mercedes in the lurch last month with the grid's top drivers already signed up to large contracts.
The team were forced into protracted negotiations with Williams over releasing Bottas from his contract and the Finn's move was confirmed on Monday.
Hamilton revealed before the announcement that Mercedes were contractually obliged to consult him over the new driver but that he would have no power of veto over their decision.
Everything you need to know about Valtteri Bottas
Tue, January 10, 2017
Express Sport brings you everything you need to know about Valtteri Bottas, with the Finnish driver joining Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes after Nico Rosberg's retirement
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Express Sport brings you everything you need to know about Valtteri Bottas
However, team boss Toto Wolff was able to go after Bottas in the knowledge that the British driver is a fan.
"Lewis said he thought Valtteri was a nice guy, one of the guys he actually got along with well in Formula One and that he felt he was a good option," Wolff told the Formulacast podcast.
"I think that works well.
"It was okay already between Nico and Lewis, but there was the luggage of the past.
“Now it is a completely new relationship and there is no animosity.
"There will be moments where it is going to be difficult, but I think that how the personalities are for the team it's going to be a good situation and one that is maybe a bit easier to handle than the past.
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Lewis Hamilton is desperate to win a fourth F1 world title this year
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Valtteri Bottas has no intention of being Lewis Hamilton's No 2 at Mercedes
"But I could be wrong."
Wolff knows Bottas better than almost anyone on the grid as one of the executives on his management team.
But the German will step down from his position in the 27-year-old's camp to avoid any potential conflicts of interest between team and driver.
Bottas will now have just over a month to learn his new car before F1 testing gets underway in earnest at Circuit de Catalunya on February 27.
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