Valtteri Bottas says mistakes from 2018 helped him "to be a better driver"

Valtteri Bottas has said that his mistakes from 2018 have helped him “to be a better driver” after recording his best season so far in his Formula 1 career, finishing second in the championship with Mercedes.

Bottas started off 2019 winning in Melbourne, something he didn’t achieve the year before, going on to claim three further victories in Azerbaijan, Japan and the USA.
 
The Finn retains his seat at Mercedes after they chose him over Esteban Ocon, who moved to Renault, and is looking to finish one place higher in 2020.

"It's been a very good year of improvement all around,” he told Autosport.

"Every part of what it takes to be a complete driver, what makes the difference to get the wins and the results, and I just need to continue the progress really with the team.

"I've been learning a lot about myself for sure from last year to this year, and from all the mistakes from last year. It's been helping me to be a better driver.”

Bottas still had off weekends throughout 2019, one of the biggest crashing out of the German Grand Prix and losing ground in the championship to Lewis Hamilton.

"Obviously I've had many weekends this year that could have been a lot better, so there are many points we are going to review with the team and find the causes, why the pace was not there or why I did a mistake," he added.

"We will really go deep into details and again I can learn from those.

"I can't really point out one thing [we'll look at] except the consistency of the season with my performance, what affects that, and that's more in the fine details [that] I need to go through with the team."