Bottas dubs 2019 as his "best season" despite recent struggles

Valtteri Bottas started the season in style with wins in Australia and Azerbaijan as well as three-second places in the opening five races. Since then, the Finn has slowly drifted away from the Formula 1 world championship leader Lewis Hamilton and he now has Max Verstappen breathing down his neck.

Before the summer break, Bottas recorded a DNF in Germany and a P8 in Hungary. Even though this was his run into the break, Bottas feels positive about his form as he seeks a contract extension with Mercedes.

“The positives are that this has been my best season performance-wise, I keep getting better. Qualifying has been good, racing is getting better and better but, obviously [in Hungary] I can’t get a proper read of how good my pace was, because it was a completely different race for me," Bottas told Motorsportweek.

In comparison, Bottas had recorded just five podiums before the summer break in the 2018 Formula 1 season. And by this time last year, Bottas had secured a Mercedes contract extension.