A confident Valtteri Bottas is vowing to go "all out" for Formula 1 title glory in 2020.
Once again, the Finn starts a season facing the herculean prospect of trying to do what only two men have done before and beat the six-time world champion, Lewis Hamilton, in the same team.
The problem for Bottas, however, has been consistency as, despite some solid spells like the start of last season, he's not yet been able to keep up with Hamilton across a full season, as was proven by finishing 87 points behind him in 2019.
Looking ahead to this year though, with the extended break, the Mercedes driver believes he is better prepared than ever to try and take on the Briton.
“It’s obviously going to be a pretty special season because obviously it’s going to be shorter than planned. Every mistake will cost you much more than previously, and it’s all about consistency," he told the Sky Sports Vodcast.
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“I feel that, with the things we’ve been working on with the team and my core engineering team, in terms of my driving style, I feel I have a couple of new things in my driving style toolbox that I can use.
“I proved that in Barcelona testing. I felt in some types of corners I made good steps and I’ve been focusing on that during lockdown driving other things.
“I just feel I’m more complete as a driver, and also physically, I’m peaking now, so hopefully that can really translate, but I’m very confident mentally. I’m in a good place and am going to go all out, no doubt.”
But while Bottas has championship aspirations, he also faces the usual pressure over his future at Mercedes, with George Russell an ever-growing threat to his seat for 2021.
“I have that one single target in my mind for the season and that’s it, take all the other things away," he said in an F1 Instagram live chat.
"If I can follow all those targets, performance targets, and if our team can perform well, there’s going to be no worries about any contract."
