Nico Rosberg says Valtteri Bottas is "too nice" to beat Lewis Hamilton
F1 News
Nico Rosberg says that if Valtteri Bottas is to get the better of Lewis Hamilton then the Finn needs to work harder. This is what the German said he had to do when he beat Lewis Hamilton to the World Championship in 2016. Rosberg said that Hamilton was by far the better driver and that to win he had to think outside the box.
“In my case, Lewis is a slightly more naturally talented driver,” the German told Ilta Sanomat newspaper.
“He’s the most talented driver in history together with Ayrton Senna, and so the only way to beat him was to do a tremendous amount of work.
“With Valtteri, it’s the same,” Rosberg added.
“You can see he is working very hard and is very dedicated. It’s his big strength,” he said.
“Last year he had a hard time, but he’s taken big steps this year. It’s because of all the small details,” said Rosberg. “Even his beard bringing publicity was important.”
Rosberg revealed that he had to become a different driver behind the wheel to who he was out of the car.
“It was difficult because I’m not naturally like that at all,” he revealed. “I’m a nice guy, and I think Valtteri is too. It’s really difficult to change yourself in that way.
“In the winter, I did two hours of psychological and philosophical exercises every other day. The workload was huge on top of everything else.
“I was doing the same thing for years, but in my last season I really pushed it.”
At the moment Hamilton is looking too dominant for Bottas to beat him but the Finn will take some lessons from Rosberg and will try to become a more aggressive racer.