While his future may be uncertain, Valtteri Bottas claims he is in the middle of his best season yet in Formula 1.
There is growing speculation that Esteban Ocon will be chosen to replace him at Mercedes in 2020, as the German manufacturer not only thinks about results but also their long-term plans.
Certainly, at the start of the season, Bottas’ performances made the decision facing Toto Wolff harder, and the Finn does believe he is still heading in the right direction.
“The positives are that this has been my best season performance-wise, I keep getting better,” he told Motorsport Week.
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“Qualifying has been good, racing is getting better and better but, obviously [in Hungary] I can’t get a proper read of how good my pace was, because it was a completely different race for me.
“That’s the positive and the negative is that there have still been some races where we lost some opportunities.
“Sometimes it was us, as a team, and sometimes it was me. So we’re still chasing the consistency in getting those results and in the last few races it has not been there.”
It has been that failure to continue the early season form that has now created this uncertain situation as a failure to win since Baku and several tough races have left the 29-year-old 62 points behind Hamilton in the standings.
“For sure it’s a big gap, much bigger than I would have liked to have, but that’s the gap now and there’s nothing else I can do,” he said.
“There are still many races to go, obviously it’s a bit of a tricky situation, but that’s how it is.”
Bottas has also claimed he has alternative options available should he be dropped by Mercedes and said this to Finnish media during the Budapest weekend.
“The situation has not changed for me, so everything is open and I am waiting for information from the team,” he commented to Ilta Sanomat newspaper.
“I have the feeling that everything will be fine in one way or another, but I can’t say any more when I don’t know what’s going on.”