Bottas has title in sights after perfect race control

Valtteri Bottas insisted that winning the championship has always been his target this season, after winning Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix to put his name in the title picture.

The Mercedes driver was fully deserving of his second Formula One win, putting in a near-perfect qualifying lap around the Red Bull Ring and then pulling off a miraculously quick start to maintain his lead in the race.

It was so on-point that the stewards investigated for the next 26 laps whether he had jumped the start, only to deem the flying Finn had indeed timed it to perfection.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton could only finish fourth after a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change meant he had started eighth. That puts the Brit 20 points behind title leader Sebastian Vettel as the Ferrari man finished a close second to Bottas, who is in turn now just 15 points shy of Hamilton.

“Since the day I signed with Mercedes, what else can you put as a target? It’s always been the target but I don’t want to shout about it too much,” Bottas said of his title ambitions. “It’s still early days, more than 50 per cent to go, a massive amount of points to get.

“I’m developing so much every single race and feel like I’m really getting better all the time. It’s a long year ahead but for sure I’m in the championship fight.”

Hamilton insists he does not need to change anything in his approach despite heading to Silverstone on the back of another average result.

“I don’t think there’s a call for me to do anything else than I’m already doing,” he said. “It’s not like the team aren’t on my side or they’re not working hard or I’m not pushing them hard enough, so all I can do is try to inspire them with the drive I had today.

“When I look at the race pace, I was actually quickest so I actually had the strongest race… I don’t think the points really reflect this. There’s nothing else I can do, I just have to keep driving the way I have been and hope things get better.”