Hamilton: Not many F1 drivers could do what Bottas is doing at Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton believes “not many people” could perform as well as Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas after the Finn secured pole position for Formula 1's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Bottas stormed to his fourth pole position as he nicked top spot off teammate Hamilton with an impressive effort in the dying stages of qualifying.

It is the Finn’s 15th career pole position as he looks to convert it into his third win of 2020.

Hamilton is on course to win his seventh drivers’ title and sits 77 points clear of Bottas.

When asked for his thoughts on Bottas’ level of performance, Hamilton said: “I don’t really think I need to say much, I mean, jeez, he just got pole position, he’s ahead of me.

“I have more poles than anyone here so it’s not like I’m a slowpoke and so he’s doing an amazing job.I think his result today speaks for itself and I don’t really need to say much more. He does his talking on the track and that’s the great thing about Valtteri.

“I don’t think there’s many people that can do what he’s doing, if I’m really honest. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for him.”

During their time as teammates since the start of 2017, Hamilton has 39 wins compared to Bottas’ nine.

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When asked if Bottas felt he was underrated, the Finn was robust in his response in saying he doesn’t care about what people think about his performances.

“I don’t really think about that, how people rate me, Bottas added. “I think that’s the wrong area to focus on, sometimes we get criticised, I think everyone does, that’s normal in life and there’s always people that want to drag you down.

“I just try to turn it into positive energy, try to use it as a strength. I’m not really the one to comment if I’m underrated or overrated, it’s something I should not think about, I’m just focusing on my driving, trying to get pole, trying to get wins, that’s my job, that’s what I like to do.”