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Bottas Changes Mindset: "No Point in Getting Upset When Lewis Beats Me"

13:30, 14 Mar 2018

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

Valtteri Bottas has said that he won't beat himself up like he did last year when his teammate Lewis Hamilton beat him, as there's "no point in getting upset."

After replacing Nico Rosberg in January last year, Bottas had big shoes to fill. The Finn managed to end third overall in the standings at the end of the year, winning three races and claiming four pole positions along the way. He has now revealed however that he didn't take his defeats to his teammates very well.

"I was beating myself up a lot last year when I struggled. This is all part of the process though, you always learn something about yourself in every season. This year, I'm going into the season with a good mindset. I know I can perform very well, so I'll just take it one race at a time."

"Lewis is an amazing driver, I shouldn't be beating myself up if he beats me. I just have to accept it and learn from it for the next time."

However, the Finn does realize that he should be testing his teammate more often than last season; beating Hamilton more often could be crucial to the rest of his career.

"I'm not going to have a full-on fight within the team. I'm just going to concentrate on my own performances. I'll focus on being quicker in training, in qualifying, in races."

"Nico [Rosberg] managed to beat Lewis after three years of hard work. It might have taken him three years to do it, but he did it by keeping his head down and working hard. So yeah, I believe it's possible [to beat Hamilton]."