“My mentality is different this season” – Bottas

« It must be the beard ", replied Valtteri Bottas in a joking tone when asked about the reasons for his fanfare debut in Melbourne. Maligned, even buried, after a very complicated second half of the 2018 season, the Finn silenced his detractors in style by winning without firing a shot in Australia, point for the best lap in the race as a bonus. 

It is therefore in the costume of first leader of the world championship of the year that Bottas arrived in Bahrain this week. And in the shoes of a new man?

« We are only at the very beginning of the season but I can already say that something has changed in my state of mind this year, underlined the former pilot Williams. My winter preparation was different, I don't have the same feelings, my way of seeing things has changed. It's difficult to find the words to explain the situation in detail but my mentality is different compared to previous years ». 

Bottas came close to victory in Bahrain last year, falling less than a second from the Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel. Considering the level of performance of Mercedes in Melbourne, does he feel able to achieve the pass of two to establish his authority over the Drivers' classification from the first rounds of the season, like Nico Rosberg in 2016?

« It's hard to say, tempered Bottas. We were pleasantly surprised by our competitiveness in Melbourne but Albert Park is a bit of a strange circuit. I would say that the one in Sakhir and the next one in Shanghai will provide clearer visibility on the current hierarchy. 

It was naturally great to see how fast we were in Australia, and how much better the driving feeling was than in winter testing. We clearly worked hard between the tests and the start of the season, but let's wait and see what happens here ».