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Bottas remains proud of Australian victory: It feels like it was someone else

Bottas remains proud of Australian victory: "It feels like it was someone else"

16-12-2019 12:39
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Valtteri Bottas started the season in fine form. The Mercedes man became the first driver to secure a race win and the fastest lap bonus point in what was a dominant performance around Albert Park. Looking back now and Bottas was ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the early parts of the season but he dropped off through the summer period. 

Bottas won the Australian Grand Prix by 20 seconds after overtaking his teammate on the opening lap. Looking back at that performance now and Bottas insists it felt like someone else was driving the car. 

"The race I had...It is weird when I think about it, it feels like it was someone else. It was surreal, it just felt too easy. It's a funny feeling, so that was definitely my best race ever, best Sunday ever and I wasn't on the pole so I had a good start from second place and I got the lead there," Bottas added. 

Although the 30-year-old couldn't keep pace with Hamilton through the 2019 season, he did record his best ever within the sport. For the first time in his career, Bottas finished second in the F1 world championship and won four races. He matched Hamilton in five pole positions. Looking at the season on a whole and Bottas finds more positive notes. 

"There were some good races this season that goes to my top five ever. I think Austin as well. That was good fun, so that's definitely high up there. Also Japan was a good one. Now it's on the right way, I can see a little bit the improvements and gains I've been able to make as a driver and the amount I've been able to learn, within this year and from last year," Bottas added. 

"It is a very nice feeling to see that actually, the hard work is at some point paying off. When I look at the season, of course, when Lewis secured the title, the initial feeling was disappointment, because I knew it's game over again, and I kind of failed in my goal. But very quickly, the race [win] helped as well, to keep the good feeling. I look at this season in a very positive way, because of all the learning I've been able to do."