Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas does not get the recognition he deserves despite the Finn doing an "amazing job".
Bottas finished runner-up to Hamilton last season and is currently trailing the Briton by 85 points in the Driver's championship, having won twice this year versus the reigning world champion's track record of nine victories so far in 2020.
Bottas' efforts on race day relative to Hamilton have often been a day late and a dollar short, although, truth be told, the Finn has also been dogged in the past by his fair share of misfortune.
But Hamilton insists the man from Nastola is a worthy opponent and a lot better than many in the paddock make him out to be.
"Valtteri doesn’t get the credit he’s due because he does an amazing job," Hamilton told Dutch broadcaster Ziggo Sport. "He’s an incredibly fast driver.
"I think he’s better than a large portion of the field that are here, not only in his driving, but more in his mental attitude and approach. Because being a driver is not just about driving, it’s not just about practice.
"It’s about how you compose, how you bring and elevate people around you and he’s great at that."
This season, Bottas outqualified Hamilton four times - in Austria, at Silverstone, at the Nürburgring and last weekend at Imola. But the Finn's performance in the Saturday shootout has often forced Hamilton to pull out the stops to haul his W11 on to pole.
"When I look back on those times they were too close," Hamilton said. "They weren’t good enough because I believe that I have a certain amount of extra time in me.
"But it’s honestly just never giving up, never believing it’s over. It’s down to feel, pushing to the limit and trying to put all the pieces to the puzzle together in a rush.
"When you go into practice, you’ve basically got a new puzzle and the pieces are all over the place and you only have a select amount of time to put all the pieces of the puzzle into place.
"When you get to qualifying, sometimes you have half the puzzle done, sometimes you have the whole thing done, sometimes you have less.
"And then you just have to throw it all together and hope it comes together. And I’m okay at both."
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