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Lewis Hamilton believes that teammate Valtteri Bottas has had a better season so far out of the two Mercedes drivers. Hamilton has picked up three wins to Bottas' two, and the Finn is only 15 points behind Hamilton in the driver standings. Many now think that Bottas is in contention for the 2017 title.
Bottas also suffered from a retirement at the Spanish Grand Prix, but since then has scored more points than any other driver in the field. Hamilton, who has been squaring up to Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel so far this year, believes that his new teammate has a chance of claiming the title.
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"Valtteri did a fantastic job, so he thoroughly deserved to win," Hamilton said after Bottas' Austrian GP victory. "When you look at the results, he's also had a DNF as well. He's generally had a better season I would say so far. There was never a point that he was never in the fight. I think it was only you guys who potentially suggested that he was never in the battle. I always assumed he still was, and that just shows he still is."
"He is very likeable," technical director James Allison told Sky Sports. "He's also utterly, utterly calm at all points and just removes any kind of psychodrama from the weekend. Which is a great benefit for the team. He's got a very tidy turn of speed as we've seen, he's very reliable, and we're very fortunate to have him."
Fergal Walsh
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
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f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Consistency is key, and Bottas has that