Bottas feeling drained after disappointing 2018 season

Valtteri Bottas has admitted that his 2018 season performance was not up to standard after another disappointing result in the season finale in Abu Dhabi. The Finn said he felt drained after a season to forget.

After his fifth-place finish in Abu Dhabi, Bottas conceded that his performance was not good enough and he was already thinking about his holidays.

"I wish I could just disappear now and go, but the fact is in three weeks I will start my holiday, so it is still three weeks of different commitments.

"So I need to go through that and then I will have four weeks to reflect on the season, and gather some mental energy which was lost this year."

Bottas struggled all year and finished fifth in the driver standings, failing to win a race the same season his teammate Lewis Hamilton took eleven race victories on the way to a fifth world championship crown.

"I definitely feel a bit drained at the moment, and it is difficult to see many positives from the year.

"But in this sport you definitely get to know yourself, and I know that once I have some time off, it's going to be fine.

"I'm going to be seeing the bright sides of this season, and I'm going to be full attack for next year."

Bottas will be under pressure to perform in 2019 with Esteban Ocon waiting in the wings for a full-time drive. The Finn's contract will end with Mercedes in 2020 and the highly rated Frenchman could be set to replace him should his performances not improve next year.