Bottas 'will do anything it takes' to beat Hamilton

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The atmosphere between Mercedes drivers might be a lot more harmonious since Valtteri Bottas took over from Nico Rosberg last year, but the Finn has no intention of making things easy for his team mate Lewis Hamilton in 2018.

"For sure he is one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1," Bottas told ESPN this week. "[He's] a four-time world champion who's always on it.

"But I proved to myself a few times last year that I can do it and I can beat him.

"It's up to me to be performing well consistently all through the year," he added. "Not having those kinds of race weekends when I'm a couple of tenths off or something.

"I need to [perform] in all conditions: no matter what track, which temperature and which tarmac. I need to be there."

Bottas took four pole positions last year, and won three races in Russia, Austria and Abu Dhabi. He was only 12 points behind Sebastian Vettel in the final drivers standings - but over 50 behind Hamilton.

Bottas not in favour of 'mixing other series with F1'

Bottas makes no secret of wanting to win the world championship above all else.

"I think everyone knows that," he said. "For sure every driver wants to be world champion, but I am so hungry for it. I'm ready to do anything it takes."

But Bottas says that "anything it takes" won't extend to the off-track psychological tactics employed by Rosberg in 2016.

"Normally my style is not to mess with other people's things," he said. "I tend to focus on my performance and getting the most out of myself and the team around me.

"I'm not planning to change anything of what I do," he continued. "I believe if I perform consistently from race one then for sure we can have a bit more of a challenge with Lewis on track.

"Even though something would change, I can't see any issues of why we wouldn't be able to work together in the team.

"I just tend not to deal with that stuff. I just want to focus on my performance and that will hopefully get me further.

"Even though the harmony is there, I don't see that it is making Lewis a better driver. I think he's always on it."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.