Valtteri Bottas working on ‘Mental Side of Things’ to beat Lewis Hamilton in 2021

Valtteri Bottas working on ‘Mental Side of Things’ to beat Lewis Hamilton in 2021

Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton

Valtteri Bottas
Valtteri Bottas

Valtteri Bottas finished 2nd in the driver’s championship last year as his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who won his seventh world title. Having said that, the Finn managed to outperform his British teammate frequently throughout the season. Bottas has only signed a one-year contract with the Silver Arrows following which his future will be up in the air.  

Hence, he will do everything to push his teammate & rival to the limit as he will hope to win the championship in his fifth campaign with Mercedes. Speaking in an interview recently, the Finn spoke about how he prepared himself over the winter break for the 2021 season. 

Bottas started by saying, “Although Lewis Hamilton has won the titles, [whilst we have been] team mates over the years I’ve been with the team, I’m going into the new year starting afresh with this edge.”  

He added, “Absolutely I believe I can fight for the title and that’s of course my goal for the season. That’s my target, but it’s a long way until that and we need to take it really step by step.” 

Valtteri Bottas talks about his struggles of beating Lewis Hamilton 

Valtteri Bottas said, “It’s important to switch off and important to disconnect. Many times, when you step out from the sport for a couple of weeks, you start processing things and you realise things when you see the big picture and if I look at last year, yes there were races that I couldn’t affect, but then there were many races that I could have done a better job.” 

Bottas added, “Still, I think from my side the big thing is the consistency Many times I perform on the level that I want to, but then there’s times that for some reason I don’t and I feel like I couldn’t get 100% out of myself and the team around me.” 

“I’ve realised that a lot of that is the mental side of things. So [I’m] really trying to focus on, of course, all the learnings from previous years and still working a lot with my driving style and technique and trying to perfect the Pirelli tyres.” 

He concluded, “A lot of the work and focus for me this season is the mental side of things. Trying to be mentally at my best at grands prix, trying to find the right way of approaching every single grand prix. Try and find more often the ‘flow state’ and that way, the consistency over the season.” 

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