Hamilton on how Bottas has changed
Lewis Hamilton was certainly open about many topics during his Thursday briefing, including his relationship with Valtteri Bottas, his past with Nico Rosberg and whether Ferrari and Red Bull can recover in the title race.
He also spoke about how Bottas, the championship leader, has changed this year and was keen to mention that the engineer that had overseen his recent title wins, Riccardo Musconi has moved to Bottas’ side of the garage this year.
"You could say he looks a little bit more focused than he was previous years," said Hamilton. "The things he was doing on the track which my engineer has obviously encouraged him to do. Things I was doing with settings, he's doing now. He's definitely moved in the right direction there.
"But otherwise he's still the strong Finn that he's been before. We've been at the core circuits these first few races, so it will be interesting to see how he bodes in the harder conditions. Winning the title is now all about winning a couple of races, it's consistency through a whole season. I'm sure he's going to be strong and competitive all year long. That's going to be the challenge."
Hamilton on how Bottas has changed
Lewis Hamilton was certainly open about many topics during his Thursday briefing, including his relationship with Valtteri Bottas, his past with Nico Rosberg and whether Ferrari and Red Bull can recover in the title race.
He also spoke about how Bottas, the championship leader, has changed this year and was keen to mention that the engineer that had overseen his recent title wins, Riccardo Musconi has moved to Bottas’ side of the garage this year.
"You could say he looks a little bit more focused than he was previous years," said Hamilton. "The things he was doing on the track which my engineer has obviously encouraged him to do. Things I was doing with settings, he's doing now. He's definitely moved in the right direction there.
"But otherwise he's still the strong Finn that he's been before. We've been at the core circuits these first few races, so it will be interesting to see how he bodes in the harder conditions. Winning the title is now all about winning a couple of races, it's consistency through a whole season. I'm sure he's going to be strong and competitive all year long. That's going to be the challenge."