Valtteri Bottas insists he will have no ill effects from Mercedes imposing team orders last weekend in Russia suggesting he actually "feels like a winner" of the race in Sochi.
The Finn was forced to hand over the victory to teammate Lewis Hamilton, resulting in awkward scenes on the podium as the Briton tried to share the top step with Bottas who later described the situation as "confusing".
Even so, the 29-year-old insists he is concentrating on the positives from last weekend and hopes to continue the momentum to Suzuka.
“Last weekend was actually very good for my confidence,” he was quoted by Crash.net. “I feel like a winner, so I’m not going to let this kind of situation do anything negative for me.
“I try to turn it the other way around, I always want to take the positives and for me, in Russia, the positives were that I had the pace to be on pole position and I had the pace, in the race, to win it.
“That’s what matters to me and the team knows it as well.”
Also Read:
- Bottas 'more disciplined' than Barrichello at following team orders - Todt
- Mercedes boss Wolff: Bottas willing to give up more wins for Hamilton after Sochi
The question remains, however, with the precedent now firmly set, does Bottas have to wait until after Hamilton secures the championship before he can contend for a victory?
“It’s not like that,” he responded. “I’m definitively still allowed to win but it will all depend on the situation.
“Honestly, I think that last weekend, if Lewis didn’t have the blister, if he didn’t have that much pressure from Sebastian, maybe the team would have not done it. So, it will really be case by case.
“It can definitively happen again but it will depend on the situation. The team told me that and that was also what I expected.”
