Bottas optimistic: "I know what it's like to win in Austria"

Since it has been announced that the season will start in Austria, all eyes are on Red Bull Racing. The team has won the Grand Prix at Spielberg with Max Verstappen over the past two years. The previous years it was Mercedes who was in charge of the service on the Austrian circuit. Valtteri Bottas thinks his team has a good chance of winning on the Red Bull Ring.

"I've been on pole twice and I won there once", Bottas tells Sky Sports F1. The Finn of Mercedes won once in Austria, that was in 2017. He also started the race from first place. He was able to repeat that in 2018, but there he dropped out with engine problems. That race was finally won by Verstappen.

Finally racing again

Bottas will help to do better next year than the past years. The Finn never fully managed to threaten his teammate Lewis Hamilton in the World Championship. Often the role was as second driver for Bottas, while Hamilton took off with the first places.

Nevertheless, Bottas has high expectations for 2020. Also because there are several drivers who are looking for the Bottas seat. His contract expires after 2020 and drivers like Sebastian Vettel and George Russell are happy to drive for Mercedes. Yet Bottas thinks he can show that he belongs to Mercedes. "So it's a circuit that suits me, so I'm really looking forward to finally go racing", says Bottas.