Valtteri Bottas had an unpleasant couple of race weekends now as he failed to secure points at Monte Carlo and Baku. After 6 rounds, the Finn sits at P6 in the Drivers’ Championship, trailing leader Max Verstappen by 58 points.

In Monaco, Bottas had to deal with yet another pit stop blunder, one that forced him to retire from the race. The Finnish driver entered the pit lane and never came back out because of a jammed wheel nut on his front right tire.

In Azerbaijan, the Finnish diver struggled for pace all weekend, finishing the race P12 just behind both the Alfa Romeo. Meanwhile, Valtteri Bottas refuses to take the “loser’s option” by giving up on the Drivers’ Championship fight.

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What did Valtteri Bottas Say?

Valtteri Bottas had already suffered two retirements in the opening 6 races. Luckily there was some good news for the Finn as both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton failed to score any points and he lost no further ground in the championship.

“Definitely the mental strength has been tested. It’s not been the easiest ride to start with, having two DNFs before Azerbaijan.

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“So yeah, I would say there have been setbacks, and it’s all about how you bounce back from those and how you move forward. The loser’s option is to give up and that’s not something I will do,” said Valtteri Bottas.

“I’m still keeping very strong mentally and knowing it’s a long, long season ahead and for sure many good battles to come and hopefully many wins. I have full belief in myself, and for us as a team that we still have time to do good things.”

Bottas on Mercedes being second on Constructors Championship

Mercedes had an arduous time recently, failing to secure any more than 7 points from their last two races. Silver Arrows slipped to P2 in Constructors’ Championship, having fallen 26 points behind Red Bull.

“We will stick together, there’s no doubt. We have great team spirit and we know how much it matters to stick together as a team,” added Valtteri Bottas, who had the best finish of P3 on three occasions this season.

“We have a big fight on our hands for sure with Red Bull, and it seems like on some tracks with Ferrari as well. These kind of things just motivate us even more.

“And I can see everyone is super-motivated this year with the competition, so there’s no doubt about that.”

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Can Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes display a convincing performance, with French Grand Prix around the corner? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.