Bottas ‘mentally strong’

Valtteri Bottas is back to his old self, according to Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams, after a tough start to the season where he was linked with a move away.

Bottas was heavily tipped to join Ferrari next season before the Italian side opted to keep Kimi Raikkonen.

All of this knocked Bottas, but Williams insists he is back on song ahead of the final part of the year.

"Valtteri has improved and improved," Williams said.

"He has really matured into a driver that can build a team around him and galvanise people.

"We saw he lost a bit of that focus last year with the Ferrari rumours, but he has reset.

"We've seen a very different Valtteri this year, an even better version of himself.

"I knew him when he was our development driver and you can see the trajectory has gone upward and I don't think he has stopped going up.

"He still has a huge amount to prove and I hope we can one day give him the race car to prove that he is a championship-worthy racing driver."

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