WORDSSTUART CODLING
PORTRAITSIMON GALLOWAYVALTTERI BOTTAS
IN CONVERSATION WITH
F1 RACING JANUARY 2020 49He might be the world championship runner-up – his best
finish in three seasons with Mercedes – but Valtteri Bottas stilladmits he can’t be totally satisfied with his 2019 season. In
this exclusive interview he tellsF1 Racingall about his drive toimprove himself – and what hegets up to on the internet...
“IT’S HARD WORK FOR
ME ON T RACK TO TRY AND
BEAT HIM [LEWIS], BUT
I WOULDN’TWANT ANY
OTHER TEAM-MATE.
I WANT NOTHING EASILY IN
THIS WORLD”
How doyou rate your performance
this season? Itfeels like your career is
following an upward trajectory.
That’s exactly how I feel. It’s been the
best season I’ve had so far in terms
of my own performance. I’d still like
to have had more wins, but I feel my
qualifying performance and my racing
has been better than the year before.
I feel – and it’s a fact – that I can still be
better. I’m always aiming for that and
I’ll try again to be better next season.
I have to be 100% honest that I’m not
completely happy about this season–
for sure it could have been better. But it
could have been much worse as well.
How would you say you’ve grown in
threeseasonsas a Mercedes driver?
I’ve learned massive amounts in the past
three years and I still keeplearning.
I think being part of such a great team
is the opportunityevery driver wants
to get, because it allows you also to get
to the next level if you work hard, work
with the team, and use allthe tools you
can within the team. In every single area
of my performance, off track and on
track, I’ve been able to improve and I’m
still picking up things here and there.
How do yougo about doing that? Do you
pick up thingsfrom Lewis Hamiltonor d o
you find your own way?
You need to keep going your ownway
but it would be silly to not try and learn
from your team-mate, especially when
it’s LewisHamilton. I always take the
opportunity if I cansee somethinghe’s
doin g, whetherit’s with t he driving or
set-up or something. I’m glad it’s very
open inour team – we discuss things
both ways. It’s a goodthing to have him
as a team-mate. It’s hard workfor me on
track to try and beat him, but Iwoul dn’t
want any other team-mate. Iwant
nothing easily in thisworld.No otherteam in thehistory of F1 has
been as successfulas Mercedes has
over the past six seasons.What is it
aboutthe team, and aboutToto Wolff’s
leadership, that has set thattone?I think he [Toto] has made a very
important contribution to wherethe
team is now. Ithink theway he runs
everything,the way he motivates the
team and pushes forward – it isjust in
him that he’s super-competitive.
Nothing is everenough – he always
wants morefrom the pe ople around him.
He can be very toughto the peoplehe
really cares about andwants to do we ll.
He’s very direct. He alwayspushesyou
forwards and doesn’t mind saying things
he thin ks someonecan do bet ter.Which isgood. He’s a perfectionist. If he
sees something that can bedone better,
he makes sureitisdone better.Does it help that this isgenerally done
behindclosed doors?
It’s a good thing. We getto talk about
these things if we feel we need to, and we
get to learn from it – which is the way to
go forward, to learn from mistakes and
do better inthe future. Theonly thing
is that his [Toto’s] desk in the garage
sometimes gets a bit of a hammering.And then thefootage goes straighton
the internet...
Oh I find it quite funny when I see those
clips! It’s good humour.You’re a so cial mediastar in yourown
right.Isn’t there a Twitter account called
“HasValtteri had hisporridge?”
Yes – I actually follow that account.
It’s not run by me, by theway...What is it about Mercedes that’s made
it suchan e ffective fighting unitover the
past six seasons?
It’s the mentality. Someone has to create
that and Toto has played a big part, but
there’s a lot of highly motivatedpeople
within the team. There’s a lot of unity.
Continuity [of staff] has played a part
as well. There’s so many smart people
to create that machine and operate at
the level we need. But the biggest thing
is the mentality, and always setting our
own goals and sticking to themtogether.Our thanks to MonsterEnergy for
facilitating this interview