Valtteri Bottas hopes Lewis Hamilton will “bounce back” from his difficult first season at Ferrari, but ultimately believes only time will tell if the British driver can recover to race-winning ways.

The seven-time F1 drivers’ champion made the switch from Mercedes over the winter, riding to Maranello on a wave of expectation and optimism.

However, the partnership has thus failed to live up to the anticipation, and if Hamilton does not score a podium at the next round, the United States Grand Prix, he will beat Didier Pironi’s unfortunate record for the longest start to a Ferrari tenure without a trip to the rostrum.

The high points for the 40-year-old this campaign have both come in sprints, with victory in Shanghai and third place in Miami.

Bottas, who was team-mate to Hamilton at Mercedes between 2017 and 2021, has been quick to point out how challenging moving teams can be.

Speaking to Crash.net, the 10-time grand prix winner said: “I hope he [Hamilton] will bounce back. But time will show if he will.

“He’s had some good moments [at Ferrari], a bit of bad luck as well. But it’s tricky. It’s not easy changing a team after such a long time at Mercedes, being kind of the lead man.

“It’s a very different environment that he’s working with now. I can’t really say much more than say time will show if things go better or not. But I really hope so because I think he deserves still great results in this sport.”

Having spent 2025 on the sidelines as reserve driver at the eight-time F1 constructors’ champions, Bottas will join Cadillac next year as he returns to full-time racing.

That will mark the third time the Finnish driver has moved teams in his F1 career, but he does not feel his experience is a like-for-like comparison with Hamilton’s, given he has only ever joined new teams at the start of a regulations cycle.

“It depends on which team you go to and how different is the car,” said the former Williams, Mercedes and Alfa Romeo/Stake driver.

“I’ve had my experiences, but normally it’s been actually during a regulation change. So for me it’s hard to predict.”

The 36-year-old added: “I don’t know inside the team how they operate, how they work and what the struggles are. So I can’t really say much more than that, really.”