F1: Bottas on a mission following Austria podium

Valtteri Bottas is on a mission. A mission to chase down his team mate and ensure his impressive start to 2019 doesn't fizzle out.

The Finn started the season with two victories in the opening four races, with his Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport teammate, Lewis Hamilton, winning the other two.

However, since then reigning world champion Lewis has since opened up a gap at the top of the drivers' championship with six wins out of nine races, and Valtteri now knows he must start chipping into his teammate's lead, if he isn't to fall too far behind.

Speaking after his most recent podium (P3) at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Valtteri said: "I am pretty hard on myself, so to date I would rate my performances as 7.5 (out of 10), whereas if you would have asked me few races ago I would have said 8.5. I need to minimise the mistakes in qualifying and extract everything in Q3; that can always change Sunday's result.

"Another thing has been my pace in the race. That is still where Lewis has the upper hand in a few places. That is the one I need to make the most improvements on. In the last couple of races I have not managed to get everything out of the car I could have done and it could have been a different result if I had done that.

"For me, it is about getting back to that level and making sure I do that and make a step forward. It would be silly to let this good start to the season slip. Lewis is one of the best ever in F1 and performing at such a high level that it is not easy to beat him but in motorsport, you always want to beat your teammate.”