Valtteri Bottas has highlighted the notable difference at Mercedes since 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Lewis Hamilton’s exit, describing the F1 team as “a bit more chilled”.

Hamilton 🀅shocked the sporting w🧔orld by calling time on his Mercedes career.

The seven-time world champion decided to join Ferrari for the 2025 F1 season, which is likely his final career move before retiri🦄ng.

Hamilton spent 12 yꦜears at Mercedes, winning six of his seven ti🌺tles with them.

Dur🙈ing this time,🌳 Bottas was Hamilton’s teammate for five seasons.

The Hamilton-Bottas combination remained unbeaten in the F1 constructors’ standings between 2017ඣ and 2021 despite threats from Ferrari and Red Bull at various poin💙ts.

Mercedes opted to promote 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Kimi Antonelli from their academy as Hamilton’s replacement, while 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:George Russell has stepped up as team leader.

Bottas, who returned to Mercedes as𝔍 their test and reserve driver after failing to land the Sauber drive for this year, identified what has stayed the same and what has changed since coming back.

“Yജes and no. In the end, the spirit is still the same,” he said on the Beyond the Grid podcast.

“The winning mentality is still there; everyone is still working as hard as the🀅y can, trying to solve issues and get better. That hඣasn’t changed at all.

“Otherwise, losing a big figure such as Lewis, I think, has made some kind of✅ difference. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but I think there has been some excitement over young Kimi and George being the more senior driver. Maybe it’s a bit more chilled in a way.”

Will Bottas make a return in 2026?

Bottas remains hopeful that he can๊ return to the F1 grid in 2🔴026.

Sauber overlooked the Finn 🧸as they signed Formula 2 champion Gabriel Bortoleto.

Bottas’ main option appears to be Cadillac, while ꦡAlpine and Red Bull will also likely need to sign a second driver.

Cadillac are joining🐼 the grid in 2026 as F1’s 11th team, but they haven’t decided their driver line-up yet.

They have a host of options, such as ♛Bottas, Sergio Perez and Zhou Guanyu.

168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Mick Schumacher has also been linked, while they could turn🌞 to an Amerಞican driver such as Colton Herta.