Former Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa says that the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team will effectively make Lewis Hamilton their number one driver in 2018 over teammate Valtteri Bottas to reduce the chances of another season like 2016.
Massa, a former teammate of Bottas and 2008 title-rival of Hamilton, said that Mercedes will be completely on Hamilton’s side in the coming season to avoid another situation like the team saw with Nico Rosberg. Whilst the last season saw the two Mercedes drivers working together as equals, Massa told Motorsport.com that he believes that won’t continue in 2018.
“Next year the team is completely on his side 100 percent, so he has no issue with his teammate like he had maybe before.
“So many things are really on his side and he can just make himself better and better all the time.”
Hamilton took a comfortable fourth title in 2017 despite a shaky start, eventually beating Scuderia Ferrari‘s Sebastian Vettel by forty-six and teammate Bottas by fifty-eight points and being the only driver to finish all twenty races.
“Hamilton did the perfect job. He had some little issues in some races at the beginning of the season. He was just not on the pace and struggling with some stuff around the car, but I think they sorted it out.
“He is really doing an amazing job and having fun racing. So he is just getting the best out of it. He deserves everything that he has managed to achieve.
“[Last] year, he made himself into a driver who has nothing to lose compared to any driver in the history.”
