Valtteri Bottas simply wants a chance to challenge for victory at next weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The Finn is facing the biggest season of his motorsport career, as a battle between himself and Lewis Hamilton for the Formula 1 title grows ever more likely.
This after the gap between the Mercedes pair and the rest grew to over 40 points in the Drivers’ Championship following a fifth straight 1-2 in Spain.
Historically, however, Monte Carlo hasn’t been kind to Bottas and he knows that will have to change if he wants to keep pressure on Hamilton going forward.
“I feel I’ve never in my Formula 1 career I’ve never had a good car in Monaco,” he told the official F1 website.
“It’s such a unique track, you need a very special car in terms of how it works mechanically, with all the warps and bumps, so it’s a question mark how we’re going to perform there.”
Also Read:
- Verstappen anticipating Mercedes dominance to continue in Monaco
- Wolff responds to debate over the health of F1 as Mercedes dominate
- Hakkinen tips Ferrari/Red Bull to challenge Merc dominance in Monaco
The past three seasons have seen Mercedes not be the quickest car either in Monaco, with Hamilton fortuitously winning in 2016 but Ferrari and Red Bull winning the past two years.
Ahead of this year’s trip to the principality, however, it does seem likely that the Silver Arrows will again be the team to beat.
“Obviously from Barcelona here, [our performance in] Sector 3 with slow corners, it’s promising,” Bottas added.
“I would just hope that we have a good car there [in Monaco] because it would be such a unique race to be fighting for the win, or win it.
“I’ve actually never been on the podium there so it’s something I really look forward to.
“I’ll definitely focus 100% of the weekend for the qualifying performance and being absolutely on it in Qualifying 3, like here.
“I live just next to the start-finish line so it would be nice to have a good car there.”