Is Bottas giving up? "I need a miracle"

It was only Valtteri Bottas' first outing this season, but it could not have come at a worse time. Once again teammate Lewis Hamilton extended his lead in the World Championship and the distance seems to have become unbridgeable with six races remaining. 

Statistics

There are now 69 points between Hamilton and Bottas, with the six-time world champion recording seven of Mercedes' nine wins. In addition, qualifying battle sits at 8-3 in favour of Hamilton. The statistics don't exactly speak in favour of the sympathetic Finn and once again it is clear who is the better driver within Mercedes. Even if Bottas wins all races and drives the fastest laps (156 points in total), Hamilton only has to be third in those races.

Keep trying

"The gap to Lewis is big. I need a miracle," he says at Auto Motor und Sport. But he is not giving up yet. "It is not in my nature. I don't have to do any more math, but will try to set the bar even higher. I just have to keep trying."

After the pointless race in Germany, Bottas has to look backwards in the championship as well as forwards. With his second place and fastest lap Max Verstappen managed to catch up with Bottas again and is now only 14 points behind him.