Valtteri Bottas is the latest guest on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast and in an honest and open interview, the Finnish driver revealed why he has felt Lewis Hamilton has had the edge on him in recent years at Mercedes.

Bottas joined the Silver Arrows in 2017 and, with them the dominant team since 2014 in Formula 1, he would have obviously hoped to have challenged for Drivers' titles in the years following.

However, he's never really managed to put together a sustained charge and, whilst capable and quick enough to win races and secure pole positions in isolation, stringing together a run of results like teammate Hamilton has been able to do has eluded him.

Indeed, speaking frankly ahead of the final four races after another season where he's not been able to match the pace-setters in the championship frequently enough, he says that that consistency, or lack of it, has stopped him from achieving the ultimate goal in the sport so far:

"The thing is, there were some seasons that I started pretty strong, then there was unlucky moments, or maybe I had a bad race or two," he admitted.

"Lewis always kept performing in a really consistent way, all the time. And then, once there was a bit of a gap in the points, then obviously the focus starts to shift to the car that is most likely going to win the championship.

"I would say the biggest difference between me and Lewis in recent years was that he's always been able to perform at a high level, he rarely had bad weekends," said Bottas.

"He obviously had some, but less than me, and it is impressive how he can always be there, no matter what conditions, which track, what life situation, whatever. Once he gets in the car, he always delivers."

The whole podcast is a great listen with Valtteri coming across as a genuine, humble person that still has a fierce passion inside to compete at the top level and he'll be looking to help Alfa Romeo get close to doing that in the coming years as he moves there in 2022.

It will be tough, but Bottas spoke at another point about how a multi-year deal and the security that that will bring could help him at Alfa, with it something he was never offered with the Silver Arrows.