ABU DHABI // As he prepares to finish his third, full season in Formula One, Williams driver Valtteri Bottas already has his name in the record books, not that he is particularly happy about it.
“There is a not-so-nice statistic that I am the driver with the most points in Formula One without a win, ever, so I need to fix that,” he said Wednesday during a media event at the Yas Viceroy Hotel ahead of Sunday’s Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“I want to get that win so much, and I am trying hard to get it.”
The 26-year-old Finn has scored 326 points in his first 55 races in F1, having made his debut in 2013, and the closest he has come to taking the chequered flag s two second-place finishes, in Britain and Germany last year.
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Sunday will be Bottas’s 56th attempt ata race win, but while he and Williams have generally gone well at Yas Marina Circuit in the past, where he finished third in last year’s race and teammate Felipe Massa second, he is realistic about his chances of victoryon Sunday.
“Our car is pretty good around here,” he said. “Our car’s strengths are pretty visible around here: the long straights, chicanes and short corners are good for us.
“The only problem is Mercedes and Ferrari. They have been quick everywhere this season and I don’t expect that to be any different this year.”
As the Mercedes-GP and Ferraris have dominated at the front the chances to finish on the podium have been even harder to achieve in 2015, with third-place finishes in Canada and Mexico Bottas’s best results so far, compared to the six, top-three results he had in 2014.
Bottas remains upbeat he can fight with the Ferraris, and said: “I think we can be closer than the last race but it is not going to be easy.
“We have secured third place in the championship in the constructors already, so that is good, but, for me, there is a bit of a fight going on to get fourth place” in the drivers’ standings.
The Finn holds a one-point lead over compatriot Kimi Raikkonen going into the race weekend in a rivalry that has added much-needed excitement in the second half of the season with the pair colliding in both Russia and Mexico.
Bottas played down any ill-feeling between him and the Ferrari driver, but acknowledged they had not spoken about the incidents directly.
“No, we have not,” he said of any dialogue being shared. “But there is nothing to really speak about.
“I think we both realise this is racing and sometimes you hit and it was unlucky it was me and him two times in a row, and from the same nation. Then, of course, the media make it a bit more of a story. But, from my point of view, there is no problem and I am sure that is the same with him.”
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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