Bottas not interested in being gifted F1 win by Hamilton

Valtteri Bottas says he does not want to be given a victory by Mercedes Formula 1 teammate Lewis Hamilton in return for his actions at the Russian Grand Prix.

The Finn was told to give up his position while leading in Sochi in order to strengthen Hamilton’s championship position, prompting Hamilton to label the race as “one of his most difficult moments” of the season.

Despite having already wrapped up this year’s title heading into this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton insisted he is not planning to reverse the scenario should he find himself leading a Mercedes 1-2 in one of the remaining two rounds of the year.

Meanwhile, Bottas stressed he is only interested in beating Hamilton fair and square for race wins.

“Definitively I don’t want to win if it’s given to me, I want to win by doing it by myself,” Bottas said.

“Coming here knowing that there is a possibility to win a race is obviously a good feeling,” he added. “You all know what my goal will be for this weekend, so it’s going to be up to me and I need to perform at my best level to fight for the win.

“For sure we both want to finish as high as we can, we want to win the race, that’s how it goes. So, as a team, we both aim to be as strong as we can in qualifying and in the race.

“We all know there’s a chance for us to secure the constructors’ title here, but it’s not something we want to think about too much.”

Bottas turned in a strong performance last year in Brazil, taking pole position before being pipped to victory in the race by Sebastian Vettel after losing the lead into Turn 1.

“Last year it was a really strong race weekend for me, so I really hope it will be again,” he said. “Definitively that’s going to be the goal [to be as competitive].

“It was a pretty strong weekend, overall, just lost it at the race start, I think. I’m aiming to have a good weekend.

“It’s not going to be easy to be Lewis, like in every other race weekend, but also to beat the red cars and also the Red Bulls. I have to say we’re on a good mindset for this weekend.”