Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has accepted that he “needs to work harder” in order to position himself strongly for 2018, after a subdued string of performance since the summer break.
Bottas finished the first half of the campaign as Formula 1’s in-form driver, but has been out-qualified by team-mate Lewis Hamilton by over half a second at each event since.
Bottas, following Hamilton’s hat-trick of wins, has slipped 51 points behind the Briton, and is hopeful of an upturn in form across the remaining events to leave him with more confidence heading into 2018.
“I think I need to win more races," Bottas said, when asked how he can gain more confidence for next season.
"That's what normally counts and of course we still have six races to go this season, I still have an opportunity to finish this year very strongly with many good results.
"Next year is going to be a new opportunity for me, a new challenge for us as a team. I just need to be better, and have less weekends struggling.
“The past few races I've had quite a difficult time in terms of pure pace, so I need to work harder.
“But, next year will be quite a different feeling. There won't be as many things to get used to. I know how the team works, I know all the people and the car.
“That for sure took a lot of energy [this year]. I'm looking forward to it, but I am also looking forward to the last six races of this year.”
Bottas is also anticipating a three-way fight between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull at this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix, but expects his squad to be far stronger than it was in Singapore.
“It's going to be a hard fight with Ferrari this weekend and I wouldn't underestimate Red Bull, either," the Finn said.
"They have been stronger and stronger this year and have been surprisingly quick in some places.
"I think it's going to be a close fight between the three of us. We did struggle pace-wise as a team in Singapore but we expect this one to be better for us. It should be interesting.”
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