How Bottas took positives from 2019 Hamilton defeat

Valtteri Bottas says the circumstances surrounding Lewis Hamilton's sixth title triumph helped to soften the blow of losing out to his Mercedes team-mate in the 2019 title fight.

Hamilton dominated F1 in 2019, although Bottas was his closest rival through much of the campaign.

The Finn lost ground in a slight mid-season slump, but recovered his form towards the end of the year, winning in Japan and the United States.

Hamilton's second-placed finish at COTA was enough to officially knock Bottas out of title contention, but the Finn says being able to celebrate the race win helped him keep a positive view on his season as a whole.

"Now it's on the right way," Bottas told Autosport. "I can see a little bit the improvements and gains I've been able to make as a driver and the amount I've been able to learn, within this year and from last year.

"It is a very nice feeling to see that actually the hard work is at some point paying off.

"When I look at the season, of course, when Lewis secured the title, the initial feeling was disappointment, because I knew it's game over again, and I kind of failed in my goal.

"But very quickly, the race helped as well, to keep the good feeling.

"I look at this season in a very positive way, because of all the learning I've been able to do."

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