Bottas wants to be “mentally-free” in fight against Hamilton

Valtteri Bottas says he plans to be “mentally-free” in the car in his fight 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 back from 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 standings. He is determined to put in a greater challenge this year.

“I feel very well prepared,” Bottas said. “Even in testing there were no question 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 to go.

“It’s all about trying to be at your absolute best and pushing to the limits even further,” he added.

“What it requires 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 the key.”

Bottas insisted he feels “very good” both physically and mentally heading into the new campaign after a strong winter of preparation.

“For sure last year I came to this event with the right attitude and it worked, as the weekend went very 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 for 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 always be tricky moments but then it’s all about minimising how long they last and how much they impact you.”