Lewis Hamilton made F1 star feel forced to 'walk away' from the sport

Lewis Hamilton has been one of the best Formula One drivers the sport has ever seen, and it would not be surprising if he had made elite drivers question their own ability as he won race after race.

Individuals that reach the starting grid of an F1 race are often, more than not, some of the best drivers around the world motorsport has to offer at any given moment.

So, to be beaten so consistently by the British driver will have led to serious reflection about their careers and if they could ever challenge Hamilton for a World Championship.

Now, one driver has openly admitted that Hamilton and his consistent winning almost made him walk away from F1.

Valtteri Bottas, the former teammate of the seven-time World Champion, has opened up on the feelings he felt while being Hamilton’s ‘wingman’ at Mercedes during their successful period in the constructor’s championship.

He told The Players’ Tribune: “I started the 2018 season thinking that I was the best driver on the grid and that I was going to win the championship.”

However, he went winless and would be forced to give track position to Hamilton throughout that season to help the Brit in his title challenge with Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas has bared all (Credit:Getty)

Bottas continued: “Do you know how badly I wanted to just say no?

"But I had to be a good team-mate. I let him through, and of course he had an incredible season. He was the champion. I was 'the wingman'.

"To this day, I have complicated feelings about it. I don't know how to answer when people ask me about it, because Lewis is an incredible driver and a friend. I have no bad blood with Mercedes or Toto or anyone. But the whole situation almost made me walk away from the sport.

“The old me came back. The negative Valtteri. The obsessive Valtteri. I was reading too many comments on social media, and I started to become very self-loathing. Thankfully, I had the tools from my experience in 2014 to understand what was happening, and I had plenty of support."

The Finnish driver would leave Mercedes at the end of the 2021 season to join Alfa Romeo for the following campaign before it would be renamed/rebranded to Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber for 2023.

Bottas would leave the sport at the end of that year with many believing this was the end of his F1 career on the grid, but he has returned for the 2026 season with Cadillac.