Valtteri Bottas isn’t hoping for Ferrari and Red Bull to impact the Formula 1 title fight by taking points from Lewis Hamilton.
The Finn is essentially locked in a head-to-head duel with his Mercedes teammate for this year’s championship and four consecutive wins have allowed the reigning champion to pull out a 36-point advantage.
If the German manufacturer continued their run of one-two’s, Bottas would need to beat Lewis in six races to overturn the gap and that is his preferred approach rather than wishing for help.
“I don’t think of it that way,” Bottas said. “I think about my own performance and try to be ahead, try and win the race, that’s the best thing for me to focus on.
“Whoever would be between us, if there is one, would always be a bonus.”
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Something that the 29-year-old did accept, however, was while this season is still not even at half distance, he can’t afford to let Hamilton get too much further in front.
“For sure every race weekend is important and, unfortunately, I have not been able to execute perfect weekends in some of them,” he conceded.
“I’m glad there are still 13 to go and, yes, I think the next few races are going to be really important for me.
“If I look that far ahead, which I normally don’t do, the fact is that I need to start closing the gap if I want to stay in the championship fight. That’s a fact.
“But how to achieve it, for me it’s better to focus on today, on the things I have to do with the engineers, and take it lap by lap.”