For Valtteri Bottas, 2020 is all about building on the improvements he made last year, as he tries to close the gap to teammate Lewis Hamilton.
The Finn began last season strongly, matching Lewis in the first four races with two wins apiece thanks to what was dubbed as ‘Bottas 2.0’ after a comprehensive victory in Australia.
After that, however, Hamilton would stretch clear with Valtteri ending the season 87 points behind the now six-time world champion.
But late victories at Suzuka and in Austin have given Bottas some momentum going into 2020.
“For sure, it’s a good base to build on,” said the 30-year-old.
“It was a really positive season. Lots of learning, lots of improvements and I really could feel the progress in many areas, and working on my weaknesses with the team so that’s why it has been nice to build on that.
“Obviously, always in the winter it’s a great opportunity to step back, look at the bigger picture and really take in everything from the previous season, process it and learn and improve.”
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On Friday, the new cycle started as Mercedes launched and shook down their new W11 car at Silverstone.
And with the honour of turning the first laps at the British circuit, Bottas was keen to get settled.
“I am excited. Maybe it doesn’t show but it’s getting back to driving a Formula 1 car and it’s always completely new machinery. Nothing is really the same to the previous car,” he claimed.
“To get that feel, how it feels, how the car handles, how is the aero feeling, how does the engine feels, it is exciting because that is going to be the weapon that we will be using this year.”