Valtteri Bottas has addressed his bad luck this season in Formula 1.
Bottas is having one of the unluckiest seasons for a top driver in recent memory. He has had terrible patches of luck in races he looked set to do well at. With his future up in the air as well, it is terrible to be Bottas right now.
Bottas’ bad luck has cost him and his team many points. An example of this was the Monaco Grand Prix, where he was second and might have even won. However, he entered the pit lane to pit, and had to retire from the race. This was because of a bizarre jammed wheel nut, which cost him his podium opportunity.
As quoted by the Hypebeast, Bottas said, “It’s not fun.
“Sometimes I don’t know if I should cry or laugh because it almost feels like there’s been an incredible amount of bad luck happening. Sometimes there’ll be things you can’t affect so you just need to try and move on.
“What hurts the most is if I make a mistake myself and if I have a bad weekend, because I haven’t performed at the level I should be performing at. That’s more painful, and I am always trying to learn from each situation.
“It’s not been the best season with mixed results and lacking pace, but here we are, and there’s still a long, long year ahead,” the Finn added.
Success story
Bottas signed for Mercedes in 2017, replacing the retired world champion Nico Rosberg. He has had a good career in Mercedes, and has won nine races in his time with the team. Though comparisons to Lewis Hamilton are inevitable, Bottas takes it in stride.
“Being Lewis’ teammate is not easy because he’s pretty fast, both in qualifying and especially in the races.
“It makes me push myself more and always try to dig deeper or try new things because I know I need to give absolutely everything I can if I want to beat him.
“It’s also been really enjoyable, to be honest. We’ve been able to work really well as a team and if you look back at the last four years, we’ve managed to achieve great things as a team, so it keeps me working hard,” he concluded.
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