Max Verstappen has never been someone to be afraid of sharing his opinion, no matter how controversial his comments might be.
In light of that, the Dutchman has taken a recent swipe at Valtteri Bottas, who was Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate at Mercedes from 2017-2021.
Bottas replaced 2016 F1 World Champion Nico Rosberg, who retired after he claimed his title at the Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi.
Bottas built into his role at Mercedes, with the Finn having always seemingly ended up as the number two driver, after never having the consistency to fight for the title.
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The closest he came was his first season with the Germans in 2017, where he ended the year 58 points off his seven-time World Champion team-mate.
Verstappen claims that a team’s second driver is always having to “accept” their position in the side, with the 25-year-old seemingly using Bottas as an example.
“Every year he starts fresh,” Verstappen told Viaplay.
“But after a few races you realise it’s not going to happen again and you accept your role. He still finished on podiums, he won a few races and took pole positions.
“You just have to accept that the driver next to you is just a bit better. That’s fine, that can happen. It’s important that he accepted it. Some drivers can’t do that and then it goes completely wrong.
“Then they don’t survive for very long. I’m not going to name names, but you have to accept your role. You can’t live in a fairytale world.”
The Alfa Romeo driver spoke on his time at the Brackley-based team at the start of the year, where he admitted that it was “always difficult” to “take that lead role”, due to the fact that he had Hamilton alongside him.
“When I joined Mercedes, it was difficult for me to take the lead because of Lewis being there,” Bottas said at the start of the year.
“With him being in the team, it was always difficult for me to take that lead role.”
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Many would say that Sergio Pérez is in a similar position at Red Bull, with the Mexican having only taken on the lead role on a handful of occasions.
This doesn’t come as a surprise, given that Verstappen claimed 15 victories in 2022, whilst Checo claimed just two.
Racing alongside an all-time great is no easy feat, with their confidence and stature seemingly impossible to overcome.