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'I have the pace to win' - Bottas believes he can usurp Hamilton in 2020 title race

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Valtteri Bottas (TeamTalk)
Valtteri Bottas (TeamTalk)

• Bottas believes he can topple Hamilton in 2020.

• The Mercedes driver wants to build on his 2019 performance at Silverstone.

• Bottas wants to beat Hamilton at Silverstone this weekend.

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Valtteri Bottas is confident he has the car, skill and gusto to usurp Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton from his Formula 1 throne.

Bottas and Hamilton appear to be in their own exclusive battle for the World Championship title as Mercedes' dominance has shown no signs of weakening since the revised 2020 calendar began.

The Finn won the season-opening race for the second year in a row following victory at the Austrian Grand Prix and is confident he can reverse the outcome from 2019 when Hamilton emerged the clear victor in the title challenge.

'Performance has been good'

Bottas said, as quoted by GPFans: "I think my performance has been good. There have been some unlucky events that have cost me a little bit, but performance-wise, I'm pleased. It's a very encouraging start.

"I think I do have the pace this year to win the title, but it's an individual battle every single weekend, and everything needs to go right. It didn't go right in Austria in the wet qualifying; it didn't go right in Hungary because of the race start, but from each weekend, I've learned again massively.

"Going to Silverstone, I was on pole last year, so I'm confident of going there. It's a good track. I know Lewis is strong, no doubt. He is strong everywhere, but I also believe in my ability to be able to beat him, and that's the big goal for me."

You never know

As for whether he agrees that the title battle is already a two-horse race between himself and Hamilton, he replied: "At this point, based on two different tracks, we have been the best, and sometimes with a big margin. That's a fact. But you never know how a season can go, and if we start thinking that way, that's going to be a mistake from our side, so we're going to continue to keep pushing.

"If you look at the future, I think if you ask anyone in the world, what would you predict [as to] how it's going to be, yes, this one you would say is going to be between Lewis and me. But you never know. It is F1, and anything can change. For me, the main thing is to improve on my performance and beating my team mate and everyone else on track."

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