Valtteri Bottas has brushed off any thought of Mercedes echoing Ferrari, with team boss Mattia Binotto claiming Sebastian Vettel would be their “priority”.
Last year the Finn endured a miserable season as poor luck in early races dented his confidence and eventually saw him play a ‘wingman’ role to teammate Lewis Hamilton, including by giving up a victory in Sochi.
As preparations for 2019 continue with the first test in Barcelona, the 29-year-old maintains he has returned to Mercedes refreshed and ready to go again.
“[I’m] not worried at all about carrying on the negativity from last year, he told GPFans.com.
“I think vice versa – maybe it was good for me. I feel really good now in relation to forgetting the negativity, and whatever is left of it I’ve turned that into motivation.”
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Even so, with Hamilton more than likely to be the man to push for yet another world championship and Ferrari already showing very strong pace, that may be a bad signal for Bottas, particularly if Binotto sticks to his word.
“I have no concerns because we have agreed to something a couple of years back and it’s up to my performance,” Valtteri insists.
“Obviously we’ll see as the season goes. Last year it became a big gap between me and Lewis in the points, so things were slightly different, but it’s going to be up to me [this year] so no concerns.”
Perhaps reassuring Bottas, Hamilton spoke highly of his contribution to Mercedes and his desire to see him perform well.
“I’m excited for Valtteri,” he said on Thursday. “It takes time to dig your roots into a new team, it’s not an easy process but he’s been an invaluable part of the last couple of years.
“The growth has been, I think, amazing and he’s really helped keep us stabilised in terms of positive energy in the team.
“So he’ll continue that form but I’m sure he’ll naturally reflect after each season and he’ll want to be stronger this year and as a team, we’ll try to help him.”