04/03/2017
NEWS STORY
Now call us cynics, but when Lewis Hamilton reveals that - just weeks into their relationship - Valtteri Bottas is his best teammate ever, we have to allow ourselves a wry smile.
Talking to the official F1 website, the three-time world champion is positively gushing in his praise for the Finn.
"He is very witty and comes out with some very funny things which you would not really expect from a Finn!" says the Briton.
"What I so far like about working with Valtteri is that it is all to do with the track - what we do on the circuit - and not outside," he continues. “There are no games, there is complete transparency. I like that.
"I feel we already have a better working relationship than I ever had with any team mate I had before," he insists. "He wants to do the best thing that he can in his first year with the team, and with me being here for quite a while now, I want to deliver and make sure that I give as much information so that he will learn. And we do our talking on the track!"
Asked, bearing in mind his high-profile status, not just within F1, but as a 'celebrity' with A-list friends, whether it is difficult not to start believing the hype, he replies: "You are immediately lost when you start believing in your own hype.
"I know it happens to a lot of people," he continues, "but I have been in the public eye for such a long time. And as I haven't got carried away by now, I don’t any more... and never will!
"At the start of every season I think about where I come from, and that’s really what sets the core of my heart. And when I have a difficult season like last year, that’s where it hits home. That’s where I come from: the struggle on the journey to get where we are. I make sure that I surround myself with great, grounded people who tell me things straight."
Asked if he fears that some might perceive him more as a celebrity than a sportsman, Hamilton says that doesn't trouble him.
"I think it can only be a good thing for me," he says. "As long as I deliver and people recognize me as much in the car as on the red carpet then I still have something when I stop racing.
"Pretty much most drivers are recognized in the car, but as soon as they are on the red carpet nobody knows the hell who they are. That’s why many end up in the paddock again," he says, just days after 'you know who' showed up in Barcelona, "and I have plans to do something very different!"
Ignoring the swipe at 'you know who', we remain to see how that new, "better relationship" stands up once the season gets underway, and Bottas attempts to exert himself on track and within the team.