Valtteri Bottas says he plans to be “mentally-free” in the car𒊎 in his fight against Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton during the 2020 Formula 1 season.

Bottas is yet to beat Hamilt💛on over the course of a season during their three years together as teammates at Mercedes so far, but the Finn bounced back from a winless 2018 campaign to achieve a career-best finish in runner-up spot last year.

Despite claiming four victories across the season, Bottas ended up 87 points adrift of Hamilton in the 2019 championship standings. He is determined to put ಞin a greater challenge this year.

“I feel very well prepared,” Bo🍌ttas said. “Even in testing there were no q💟uestion marks on my side.

“As a driver, you want to make the most out of 🍸 those limited kilometres we have, to learn about the car; how to set it up and drive it quicklyꦍ.

“I feel we are well prepared, we’ve had a really good prepa⭕ration for the year and I’m keen to go.

“It’s all about trying t🤡o be at your absolute be🥂st and pushing to the limits even further,” he added.

“What it requires to do that is the right mind set, the spဣirit and the attitude, being men✤tally free in the car and confident.

"Then it’s about finding consistency at that level all along the season - that’💦s the key.”

Bo𒅌ttas insisted he feels “very good” both physically and mentally heading into the new campaign after a strong winter of preparation.

♏“For sure last year I came to this event with the right attitude and it worked, as the weekend went very well and I had a good start of the year,” he explained.

“So I learned, training-wise, what worked. This time I also had a very good winte෴r, a little bit different from last year’s, mostly spend down here and doing quite a bit of cycling.

“Physically I feel very, very good and mentally I also feel very well. Everything൩ is like in place and now I just need to drive the car.

“You always learn about what works and what doesn’t work for you, last year I’ve learned a l𒐪ot and as I sܫtarted last season pretty well I’m confident I’ll start this season at least as well.

“As in every championship, ꦦthere will always be tricky moments but then it’s all about 💃minimising how long they last and how much they impact you.”