Bottas says deficit to F1 teammate Hamilton ‘pisses me off’

Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas says his qualifying deficit to Lewis Hamilton so far this season has ‘pissed him off’ as he seeks to turn the tables on his Formula 1 teammate.

Hamilton has claimed five pole positions and five victories so far in 2020, while Bottas has taken the other two poles on offer and scored just one win from the opening seven races.

At the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, Hamilton stormed to his 93rd career pole by lapping 0.511s faster than Bottas in qualifying before leading every lap on his way to cruising to a comfortable victory.

“Lewis has been really consistent, not making any mistakes in qualifying,” Bottas admitted.

“And as you [see with] the numbers, he’s had the upper hand this year in qualifying, which honestly pisses me off.

“But of course I’m trying and I do enjoy the challenge and I can’t wait for the next qualifying session next weekend.

“I feel my race pace this year has been better than any year before, so that’s a positive, so I feel like always in the race I’m there and I can fight for it.

“So now it’s just about trying to perform better and more consistently in qualifying sessions.”

Hamilton only managed five poles across the entirety of 2019 as Bottas appeared to make a step forward on Saturdays, but speaking after the race in Belgium, the Briton explained why he feels he has had the upper hand so far this year.

“Last year Valtteri was putting in great laps as he always does but I think I was definitely under-performing in qualifying, which is usually a strength of mine,” Hamilton said.

“It was really understanding these tyres and how I utilised it with my driving style. For this year I’ve had to make a couple of adjustments and on top of that, with this car, seems to work quite well.

“So now I’m back to being able to produce qualifying laps that I was able to do before last year, and on a more consistent basis.

“It’s just work in the background. It’s work that we do on the simulator; it’s stuff we do with set-up but getting that right without affecting the race. As you saw, last year the races were incredibly strong. It’s the fine line.”

Following his sixth defeat to Hamilton on the spin, Bottas finds himself 50 points adrift in the championship – equivalent to two race wins – but the Finn insists he is not ready to give up on his title hopes.

“Of course I’m trying everything I can” Bottas stressed. “The fact is that it’s not over. There’s 10 or something races [left]. Obviously I had that one kind of a DNF with a puncture at Silverstone, lost points with that.

“If I would give up now then I would rather stay home, so I will keep pushing, I will still keep trying to find anything from myself that I can.

“It’s just really trying to perfect everything,” he added. “I didn’t in qualifying, Lewis was on pole, he was faster on that lap, then today with that pole he could turn it into a win.

“Of course, the weekend really starts with qualifying, trying to be on pole and then those weekends that don’t go for you, you really need to maximise the points…

“I’m working on everything, I’m trying but there’s still many positives I can take.”