Bottas wants to be “mentally-free” in fight against Hamilton
Valtteri Bottas says he plans to be “mentally-free” in the car in his fig🐽ht against Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton during the 2020 Formula 1 season.
Bottas is yet to beat Hamilton over the course of a season during their three years together as teammates at Mercedes so far, but the ♈Finn bounced b♉ack from a winless 2018 campaign to achieve a career-best finish in runner-up spot last year.
Valtteri Bottas says he plans to be “mentally-free” in the car in his fight against Mercedes teammate Lewis Haඣmilton during the 2020 Formula 1 season.
Bottas is yet to beat Hamilton over the course of a season during their three years togetherꦓ as teammates at Mercedes so far, but the Finn bounced back fꦉrom a winless 2018 campaign to achieve a career-best finish in runner-up spot last year.
Despite claiming four victories across the season, Bottas ended up 87 points adrift of Hamilton in the 2019 championship standi🎃ngs. He is determined to put in a greater challenge this year.
“I feel very well prepared,” Bottas said. “Even in testing there were no ques✤tion marks on my side.
“As a driver, you want to make the most out of those limited kilometres we have, to learn 🅷about the car; how to set it up and drive it quickly.
“I feel we are well prepared, we’ve had a really good preparation for the year and I’m keen toℱ go.
“It’s all about trying to be at your💙 absolute best and pushing to the limits even further,” he added.
“What it req☂uires to do that is the right mind set, the spirit and the attitude, being mentally free in the car and confident.
"Then 🍸it’s about finding consistency at that level all along the season - that’s th༺e key.”
Bottas insisted he feels “very good” both physically and mentally heading into the new campaign after a strong winter oꦿf preparation.
“For sure last year I cꦕame to this event with the right attitude and it worked, as the weekend went v♊ery well and I had a good start of the year,” he explained.
“So I learned, training-wise, what worked. This time I also had ✨a very good winter, a little bit different from last year’s🎶, mostly spend down here and doing quite a bit of cycling.
“Physically I feel very, very good and mentally I also feel very well. Everything is like in place and 🌼now I just need to drive the car.
“You always learn about what works and what doesn’t work f✨or you, last year I’ve learned a lot and as I started last season pretty well I’m confident I’ll start this season at least as well.
“As in every championship, there will alway🦹s be tric🐎ky moments but then it’s all about minimising how long they last and how much they impact you.”
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