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Valtteri Bottas says he hasn’t “looked at a single headline or a single news article, or social media” after his disappointing performance at the Sakhir Grand Prix.
Valtteri Bottas has had a series of not so great performances in the past few races. He has not finished on the podium since the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which was four races ago. The biggest blow however was when Lewis Hamilton’s replacement George Russell outperformed him at the Sakhir Grand Prix.
However, the Finn says he ‘blocked everything’ out after the race and is now again feeling ready to perform to the best of his abilities at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“When a driver is having a bad race, sure you have to deal with it,” said Bottas at the Thursday Press Conference.
“I’ve learned from the past that sometimes the best thing to do is to block everything and not look at anything, so after Sunday, I really haven’t looked at a single headline or a single news article, or social media.
“That’s the way sometimes you have to do it, and it worked for me. I feel full of energy again for the new weekend, and feel that I’m in a place that I can perform, so that’s the main thing.”
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The Finn accepts his performances weren’t all that great in the last few races.
“Since Imola, it’s been a run of really bad luck, and I cannot remember the last time I was on the podium.
“It’s true that I feel that I’ve not really been performing at my best in the last two races, but of course I still try to extract everything as I can.
“There’s many factors in this sport and sometimes it’s luck, sometimes it’s what do you do yourself in the car and outside the car.
“All that I can say that I can do much better than if you look at the last four races on average, I feel that I need to be better.”
Bottas went on to comment on the “tough” Sakhir Grand Prix that saw him finish in P8.
“It started from the race start. It could have been obviously been quite a different race. But yeah, it’s, again, it’s all analysed, and I know what I can try and do better next time.
“That’s about the reflection and of course, really happy that there’s a race immediately a week after a disappointing race for myself.
“I know from the past, it’s not everything to have the best race of your life or a positive ending to the season. But for sure, it helps.
“It would be much nicer feeling to go into the break with a with a good result, a race win under your belt. That is the only target for this weekend, back to a normal type of track and everything.
“I look forward to it,” concluded the Finn.
