What Bottas has learned from Hamilton

F1 Racing: How do you rate your performance this past season? It feels like your career is following an upward trajectory.

Valtteri Bottas: 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.

F1R: How would you say you've grown in three seasons as a Mercedes driver?

VB: I've learned massive amounts in the past three years and I still keep learning. 


I think being part of such a great team is the opportunity every 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 all the 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.

F1R: How do you go about doing that? Do you pick up things from Lewis Hamilton or do you find your own way?

VB: You need to keep going your own way but it would be silly to not try and learn from your team-mate, especially when it's Lewis Hamilton.

I always take the opportunity if I can see something he's doing, whether it's with the driving or set-up or something. I'm glad it's very open in our team - we discuss things both ways.

It's a good thing to have him as a team-mate. It's hard work for me on track to try and beat him, but I wouldn't want any other team-mate. I want nothing easily in this world.

F1R: No other team in the history of F1 has been as successful as Mercedes has over the past six seasons. What is it about the team, and about Toto Wolff's leadership, that has set that tone?

VB: I think he [Toto] has made a very important contribution to where the team is now. I think the way he runs everything, the way he motivates the team and pushes forward - it is just in him that he's super-competitive.

Nothing is ever enough - he always wants more from the people around him. He can be very tough to the people he really cares about and wants to do well. He's very direct.

He always pushes you forwards and doesn't mind saying things he thinks someone can do better.
 Which is good. He's a perfectionist. If he sees something that can be done better, he makes sure it is done better.

F1R: Does it help that this is generally done behind closed doors?

VB: It's a good thing. We get to 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 in the future.

The only thing is that his [Toto's] desk in the garage sometimes gets a bit of a hammering.

F1R: And then the footage goes straight on the internet...

VB: Oh I find it quite funny when I see those clips! It's good humour.

F1R: You're a social media star in your own right. Isn't there a Twitter account called "Has Valtteri had his porridge?"

VB: Yes - I actually follow that account. It's not run by me, by the way...

F1R: What is it about Mercedes that's made it such an effective fighting unit over the past six seasons?

VB: It's the mentality. Someone has to create that and Toto has played a big part, but there's a lot of highly motivated people 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 them together.

Our thanks to Monster Energy for facilitating this interview