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• Bottas ready to fight for 2020 championship
• The Finn may lose his Mercedes seat come year-end
• F1 season to begin early July
Valtteri Bottas hasn't been sitting on his haunchs during the coronavirus-enforced break and has been preparing to push for a championship challenge in 2020.
The Finn had made his intentions clear that the World Championship is his target in 2020 as he attempts to end the dominance of Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton.
And the extended break Formula 1 has been on has done wonders for Bottas it seems.
Bottas told Sky Sports F1: "Three or four weeks ago, I did a fitness test that I normally do once or twice a year, and it was my best ever. As a driver, you don't get that many months normally to focus on your fitness, it's normally just the winter break. But now it's been an extended break, and I was really systematic on the training, and it was amazing to see the results and how good you feel.
"I really feel that this extra time off that was unexpected was only good for me. That's a rare time that as a driver you get so much time off, and actually do different kinds of things, and also time to focus on yourself, improving yourself physically and mentally."
Consistency is key
Bottas reiterated that consistency will be key if he is to take his first title this year in what will be a shortened season, and he says he's going into it with some new parts in his "driving style toolbox".
He said: "It's obviously going to be a pretty special season, because it's going to be shorter than the planned amount of races. Every mistake will cost you much more than previously, and it's all about the consistency. I feel with the things that we've been working on with the team and with my core engineering team in terms of my driving style, I have a couple of new things in my driving style toolbox that I could use.
"I could prove that in Barcelona testing, I could feel in some types of corners I made good steps, and I've been focusing on that during the lockdown, driving other things. I just feel I'm more complete as a driver, and physically I'm peaking now, so hopefully that can really translate. I'm really confident, mentally, and in a good place, and I'm going to go all-out, no doubt."
