Bottas: No point giving up on the championship

Valtteri Bottas insists there is “no point” in giving up in the 2019 drivers’ championship, as it is still mathematically possible that he could overtake Lewis Hamilton.

The Finn started off the season in good form, winning two out of the opening four races in Australia and Azerbaijan, but the latter of these victories came as long back as April.

Since then, he has continually lost ground to Hamilton in the rankings, while Max Verstappen is closing the gap in behind in third position.

He is now 63 points adrift of the Brit, but he will not take the foot off the gas and surrender the title until it is certain he cannot win.

“Well there’s no point ever giving up when there’s still statistics to say it’s possible,” Bottas said after the Italian Grand Prix.

Bottas showed deficit to Hamilton at Monza - WolffRead more

“Obviously it’s a bit of a long shot, honestly, if you’re realistic with the way Lewis is performing and the consistency he’s having. But obviously you never know.

“I just focus as an individual, my best performance I can and for us, as a team, to keep those improvements coming, that we are doing together and by the end of the year we will see, but there’s no point in giving up."

Thanks to a mistake from Hamilton at Monza, Bottas was able to move into second to try and hunt down the leader, Charles Leclerc. However, a lockup at the wrong moment allowed the Ferrari driver to speed away for the victory.

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