Valtteri Bottas has realised he needs to be more selfish because his Formula 1 career “won’t last forever”.
The Finn hasn’t come close to beating Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes since joining in 2017 and has instead earned the nickname of ‘wingman’ for the seven-time world champion.
Now though his future at the Brackley-based team is very much in doubt, with most expecting he’ll be replaced by Williams driver George Russell for 2022.
However, one way Bottas has tried to convince Mercedes to retain him is by trying to be more forceful in getting what he wants.
“It’s important to think more about myself and what really is the goal in my career – which is the championship – and think less about others,” he said in an interview with GP Racing.
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“You can’t change yourself, but if I look at the big picture of my career, it’s not going to last forever.
“If you’re with a [top] team five, six years, they expect you at least once to win the title. That’s how it goes, that’s how F1 works and I acknowledge it completely.
“That’s why I definitely need to challenge the team when I can, in a good way. I want to make sure all the eggs are in my basket – I want to make sure I get the better strategy.”
Bottas has shown that more selfish side on a few occasions, notably in a sweary rant after being overtaken by Sergio Perez in the closing laps at the French GP.
However, his results on track still haven’t been great, with no wins and three no scores so far in 2021, leaving him in fifth in the Drivers’ Championship and 90 points behind leader Max Verstappen.
Even so… “For me, the main goal this year is to give it everything I have, much more than I’ve ever been able to do before,” he continued.
“Whether it’s what I do in the race week, how much I’m demanding from my engineers, my coach, my family. I want to make sure that once we are done in Abu Dhabi, I look back and can say I gave it all I had left in my tank.”