While set to claim his second consecutive runners-up prize on Friday, Valtteri Bottas still has eyes on a “bigger trophy” before ending his Formula 1 career.
The Finn ended 2020 a massive 124 points behind teammate Lewis Hamilton in the Drivers’ Championship, second only to the 161-point difference between them back in 2018 with four more races.
This season, Bottas was outperformed by Hamilton 11-5 in qualifying and 11-2 in terms of victories, and after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix admitted it wasn’t good enough.
“You know, as a driver, when you are in the best team overall this season, being second you cannot be that satisfied,” he said. “But it is something to be able to contribute to the team this season, to the fourth constructors’ title for me, seventh in a row for us.
Also Read:
- Bottas: ‘I’m sure the British would love to see me swap with Russell’
- Bottas will ‘keep pushing’ to close the ‘fine margins’ in Hamilton fight
“It’s better than being third, for sure, I guess I’ll get a small trophy to take home next week, so when I’m old and grey I can look at this season and say, ‘yes, I was second’. Hopefully, I’ll get a bigger trophy one day.”
At Yas Marina, a less than 100% Hamilton allowed Bottas to have the upper hand across the weekend, although Mercedes would see their six-year winning streak halted at the Middle East venue.
“I’ve had much worse races this year so, you know, in this kind of season this was one of the good ones for me, but at least it was nice and clean, the start was good and everything,” Bottas said after finishing second to Max Verstappen.
“It could have been a worse way to end the season and, actually if we think about the big picture, knowing this team, being beaten by Red Bull in the last race of the season, for sure it motivates us even more to work over the winter, for next year, to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”