Hamilton knows decision on Mercedes teammate out of his hands

We'll have to wait a little longer to find out who will partner Lewis Hamilton next season, and while the Briton has backed Valtteri Bottas, he knows the decision will ultimately be made by Mercedes. Toto Wolff recently indicated that a decision should be reached in September , while Bottas and George Russell stated ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix that there's no news to pass along at this time . Hamilton is happy to give his opinion when asked by Mercedes, and made it clear he'll support whatever decision is made. "I've obviously been vocal in the past about my loyalty to Valtteri, and worked incredibly closely with him," Hamilton told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media. "I think our working relationship is better than ever. "Toto's a great leader and as I said in the past, we always stay connected. Of course, we talk about these things and, naturally, we're part of the same team. "We want what's best for the team moving forward, we want to win more championships and so we just have conversations. At the end of the day, it's down to him and the board at Mercedes to make that decision. "I'm a part of the team, so I support them whichever way they go, naturally. But yeah, at the moment, I'm just trying to put all my energy into doing the best I can in this season." Hamilton and Bottas have been teammates at Mercedes since the 2017 F1 season, while Russell has driven for Williams since the 2019 campaign.