After years at Mercedes, Bottas sympathises with Perez's situation

Valtteri Bottas knows what it's like to be the second driver in a top team, constantly fighting for scraps behind a dominant teammate. After five years at Mercedes, where he won 10 races but was never able to challenge Lewis Hamilton for the championship, Bottas has moved on to Alfa Romeo. But he still has sympathy for those who are in the same position he was in, including Sergio Perez, who is battling Max Verstappen at Red Bull. 

"I can relate to him in a way," Bottas said of Perez. "He's trying to find something new every year to beat his teammate. As of now, he's having a pretty decent season, and time will tell, but it won't be easy [to beat Verstappen]." 

Bottas also had some advice for Perez, noting that top teams can only support both drivers equally up to a certain point in the season. "I felt that up to a certain point in the season, I could always fight with Lewis," Bottas said. "Teams work differently and make different decisions based on the good of the team. But yes, they can support both drivers in the same way, and I certainly felt that I had the same chances every year, and then at some point in the season, a decision was made that indicated who should win."

While Bottas may not have won a championship at Mercedes, he still learned a lot from his time there, and he's using that knowledge to help Alfa Romeo improve. "Accepting the fact that Lewis was faster than me took me five years, but it wasn't easy," Bottas said. "As a driver, you always want to be the best."