Bottas Knows He Must Improve

Valtteri Bottas knows he must improve in order to keep the Mercedes seat when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Bottas, 28, is aiming for a top-two finish this weekend to ensure his campaign starts on the right foot.

He only managed three victories last time out which he’ll need to improve upon as plenty of drivers in the chasing pack are targeting his seat in the silver arrow.

Today, Bottas said: “I do have big goals. I need to try and step up my game and want to start the season well here in Melbourne. Last year, I was third in the race so for sure need to do better than that.

“I haven’t found it to be one of my strongest circuits in the past. You know I’ve always had a bit of mixed results but that’s something I want to change. I can have bad races for myself.

“I want to be consistent in every place, so I think there were some positives in the race last year, so hopefully we can build on that and be quick in the qualifying as well.”

His teammate, Lewis Hamilton hasn’t found his best performances around the Albert Park track winning just twice.

“If Lewis is having a bad day, or bad race for any reason then I need to be able to fight for the win for the win of the race.

“So I’m just going to really focus on my performance, go day-by-day, session-by-session, lap-by-lap and try to be at my best every single time I’m on track.”