Breaking news
Formula 1
Bottas says title thoughts not on his mind yet
Valtteri Bottas says he remains focused on doing well in each race and does not want to think about his Formula 1 title chances after his Austrian Grand Prix win.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 10, 2017, 1:01 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The victory at the Red Bull Ring, his second of the 2017 season, put Bottas 35 points behind championship leader Sebastian Vettel, and just 15 shy of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton.
"For me, since the day I signed with Mercedes what else can you put as a target?" he said. "So it's been always the target.
"I don't want to shout about it too much. It's still early days in the championship, and more than 50 percent to go, so a massive amount of points to get.
"With this team I'm developing so much every single race, and I feel like I'm getting better every time, even though we've had some unlucky ones as well. But so will the other guys as well. It's still a long year ahead, and for sure we'll be in the championship fight."
Despite his bullish approach, Bottas says he is taking each race it comes.
"I don't want to think about it too much, because like I said we are not even halfway of the year, and it doesn't help anything to really start thinking about it," he said.
"The fact is that to win the title from every single race weekend you've got to make the most out of that weekend and get all the points available, be consistent, and when it's possible to win, you need to win.
"By making a thing about winning titles, it doesn't change anything. You need to go race by race, or really session by session, lap by lap.
"That's how it goes. I know as a fact that in theory, with the points, everything still will be in the fight. So that is good to know."
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has no concerns about having to deal with two title contenders, implying that it will be easier than was the case with Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
"We've handled it in the past," said Wolff. "Remember the difference in the dynamics between the drivers is completely different.
"For Lewis it was actually the best outcome that Valtteri wins the race rather than Sebastian. We're not even half time, and we start counting points.
"In my opinion, Lewis has had all the bad luck that you can have. We've let him down with the headrest and we've let him down with the gearbox and now it's about time to fight back and hopefully that's going to happen at Silverstone."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Williams: Double-points finish unexpected after qualifying woe
Next article How Indians performed over the weekend (July 7-9)
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Valtteri Bottas
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Formula 1
Canadian GP
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
More from
Mercedes
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
Formula 1 9 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
Formula 1 15 h
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 9 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 9 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
11 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
13 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe