Q and A with Valtteri Bottas

After helping Mercedes to their fourth successive constructers crown in the USGP four days ago, Valtteri Bottas was in the hot seat at the official FIA Press conference on Thursday where he was quizzed about his time with the team, the car and of course his world championship winning teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who could clinch his fourth world crown at this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix…

Valtteri, Mercedes sealed the Constructors' Championship in Austin. Just how proud of that achievement are you and of the contribution you made.
Definitely really proud. It's amazing feeling, being part of a championship winning team, and also the feeling you get that you've been part of it, you've done something right. We've done this as a team. No other team has done it with such a big regulation change, again winning the title. It's such a strong team and I'm a really proud member of it.

Hard car to drive, hard team-mate. Have you been able to pinpoint where you've been losing out to Lewis Hamilton since the summer break?
Yes, I've been able to pinpoint quite well and there's been some races where I've definitely struggled more than the others. Some have been quite positive. I think there was a lot of positive things, even to take from the last race, even though the end result was far away optimal – but yeah, it's all about details, as always in this sport. Some things with the driving style, some things with setting up the car, which I'm getting, learning all the time. That's why I really believe that I can get to a good level again before the end of the year.

Do you feel that Lewis has raised his game since the summer break?
I think so. I think he's been really on it all year but especially after the summer break. He's been consistently getting everything out of the car and being able to set it up right for each track, for each condition. That comes from experience but also hard work and he definitely deserves all the credit for his results this year.

Fernando Alonso will be in the Daytona 24 hours next year. What is your opinion about that and would you like to compete in a similar race in the future, out of Formula One, like Daytona, Le Mans?
I never really thought about much elsewhere. I'm loving driving Formula One, competing with all the best drivers around and with such cool cars, so at the moment I'm just focusing on this, so no thoughts on the other categories at the moment. Of course it's good for Fernando if he can do it and if he wants to do it, why not?

Last year, Valtteri, you almost broke the record for straightline speed in Formula One. You came within a tenth of a kilometre short of Montoya's record at Monza. Do you think this year, with the faster cars, you can break that record? Well, you or any of the twenty drivers?
Honestly, I doubt it a little bit because the cars are definitely faster around the lap but they are not quicker on a straightline, they are quite a bit slower on a straightline than years before, so I doubt it.

Valtteri you seem to have had some problems in the last races against the rhythm of Lewis. Can you say why? Obviously, he's so fast but you know, in the first part of the season, you always were there, but in the second part, it seems like some lack of pace or something. Can you tell us what?
I think… when we started this press conference, I already listed quite a few things that I think Lewis has been really on it in the second half. I've been struggling to find the optimal set-up many times, sometimes going in the wrong direction, myself. Some tracks, with this car we have, the way it needs to be driven has been arguing with my natural driving style so I've had to change some things with my driving style and that doesn't happen overnight. If you think about it, if you need to change your golf swing, you just can't do it like that and be natural about it and not to think about it too much. So yeah, there are multiple things: how to manage the tyres, preparing for qualifying laps and especially during the race I've been struggling a little bit more with overheating the tyres. But we have been working on every single issue we've spotted, always managed to improve those, step by step, been getting stronger. I think my pace in the last race was actually very similar to Lewis before I struggled in the second stint with… various reasons for that so that was positive. So like I said, aim to continue the hard work and to continue to get better and better and quicker and hopefully can finish the season strongly.

Has the momentum swing within the garage affected your relationship with Lewis?
No. Not at all.

Valtteri, just to stick to the point of the relationship with Lewis; Toto and Lewis have both markedly talked about the atmosphere in the team and how much it has improved since last year, so my question to you is have you been too nice and if your answer is No, then can you elaborate a little bit why it is important to have such a good relationship with your teammate?
I think, personally, maybe it's important to have a good relationship with your teammate, such that you can work well as a team, that you don't need to hide anything within the team, that you have two cars, two drivers producing data and producing points that can be improved. Obviously always it's better the closer the teammates are, you can always pick up things better and better. And also everyone is having more fun when the spirit is good. Obviously I have no idea how it's been before with the team. I only joined in January but since January everything has been very good and to work as two teammates together I think just pushing the team forward together for a long term that will bring results.

On the Austin thing, it's not my cup of tea to be honest but I think for the people if they enjoyed it then that was obviously nice.
I think it was a good idea. I think if they're planning when it's going to be important so everyone can make it but yeah, good idea. I kind of like the direction things have been taken within Formula One now, a bit more relaxed, like the thing in Austin before the race. Of course for us it was a bit more extra things to do before the race and a bit more busy than normal, less time to focus on our performance with the engineers and so on but if people like it then it's good.