No 'invincible' feeling allowed at Mercedes insists Bottas

Despite a perfect start to its 2019 campaign, Mercedes can't let itself be overwhelmed by a feeling of invincibility insists Valtteri Bottas.

The Silver Arrows squad has scored one-two finishes in each of the first three races so far, a feat last enjoyed by the dominant Williams squad in 1992.

While Bottas and Lewis Hamilton dominated respectively in Melbourne and Shanghai, both men were clearly outpaced by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in Bahrain, but the reigning world champion lucked into his win at Sakhir thanks to the misfortune that hit the Monegasque.

Still, Mercedes has already built itself a 57-point cushion over the Scuderia, but Bottas explained why he isn't getting carried away.

"We can’t feel invincible," said the Finn. "It’s only three races of the season done and we’ve seen not all the wins we’ve got and one-twos we’ve got, they’ve not been easy.

"We’ve been performing on a very high level as a team in all the areas and that’s why we have been able to achieve those results but it’s only three out of 21 and we need to keep pushing because everyone is very motivated to finish races ahead of us.

• Wolff: Mercedes focused on 'staying out of trouble' in Baku

"We are not standing still and we don’t feel that we are unbeatable.

"We need to focus and improve on ourselves because there’s always margin to improve, even in the last race.

"It looked near-perfect from the whole team but going through everything with the engineers, it’s good to see that there’s still a list of things we can better, it’s much longer than the things we did well.

“We take nothing for granted. We are going to focus on ourselves and we still have many things to improve as a team and how we operate.

"This weekend is a new one and we take a fresh start to the season here in this moment."

Last year's Azerbaijan Grand Prix ended in tears for Bottas when a puncture robbed of what looked like a sure win just three laps from the checkered flag.

Needless to say, the Mercedes driver has a score to settle with Baku this weekend.

"It’s a very unique grand prix and anything can happen here," Bottas said.

"Even if your race starts well you have to prepare for anything and really keep focused, minimise all the mistakes through the weekend. It’s very easy to touch the wall in qualifying or practice and your weekend can be compromised.

"I fear nothing coming here. I’ve been on the pace the last three races so I focus on my performance personally and focus on my things so I can be as fast as I can and go fast in the race. It is the same for the team.

"We have been strong in at least two of the three races this year in terms of pure performance, Ferrari was definitely ahead in Bahrain but now it’s a completely different type of circuit.

"We do have a strong package and we have our strengths and Ferrari has their strengths but we are definitely in the fight and that’s good to know."

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