Bottas on being a No.2 at Mercedes: “People can call me whatever”

© LAT Images for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd

Valtteri Bottas talks about people’s opinions of him, and also says Mercedes’ Silverstone upgrades might work better than expected.

Valtteri Bottas’ future with Mercedes is still uncertain. His performance so far in 2021 firmly relegated him to playing a supporting role to Lewis Hamilton.

The Finn was asked by Ziggo Sport how he feels when people say he is a number two driver at Mercedes.

“People can call me whatever,” Bottas said.

“I’m just really trying to do my job. I have my own goals and targets. I want to win, but if it means we need to be a solid team, I need to do everything I can to get maximum points.

“You can call me that, but ultimately I don’t really think about it. It’s not easy to accept when you approach a new season and have big goals, and you’re fighting for yourself and it doesn’t go right. It’s not easy but that’s Formula 1.”


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Bottas also talks about Mercedes’ last significant upgrade package that they introduced at Silverstone. With Mercedes saying they will no longer be developing their 2021 car, it’s good to hear that he believes the updates are working better than expected.

“It’s been more positive. I think since Silverstone, we have managed to gain a bit of performance and it’s been really close with Red Bull.

“Maybe they are even slightly better than I expected. It’s still going to be really close, and it’s fine margins.

“Track by track it can be a little bit different,” the Finn concluded.

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