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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
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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."
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