F1: Valtteri Bottas won’t give up title challenge against Lewis Hamilton

Bottas is not giving up

Valtteri Bottas may be 63 points behind Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the 2019 Formula 1 drivers’ standings but the Finn is not giving up the title challenge, Planet F1 reports.

With eight wins from 14 races this season five-time world champion Hamilton is hot favourite to land a sixth championship. The Brit leads the title race with 284 points while second-placed Bottas has 221 points.

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Bottas, who won the Australian and Azerbaijan grands prix, said: “Well there’s no point ever giving up when there’s still statistics to say it’s possible.

“Obviously it’s a bit of a long shot, honestly, if you’re realistic with the way Lewis is performing and the consistency he’s having. But obviously you never know.

“This is F1, we’ve seen crazy things happening so there’s no point giving up. I just focus as an individual, my best performance I can and for us, as a team, to keep those improvements coming, that we are doing together.

“By the end of the year we will see, but there’s no point in giving up.”

At the end of August Mercedes confirmed that Bottas will drive for the team in 2020. The Finn was out of contract at the end of 2019 but the Silver Arrows exercised their option to keep the 30-year-old as Hamilton’s team-mate.

Tost: I think Albon’s gone

Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost believes that Alexander Albon will stay with Red Bull for the 2020 season.

In the summer break Albon replaced Pierre Gasly as Max Verstappen’s team-mate for the remainder of 2019 with Gasly returning to Toro Rosso.

This week Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko said the team will evaluate their 2020 line-up after the United States Grand Prix on 3 November, but Tost does not expect Albon to be back at Toro Rosso next year.

Tost told Reuters: “Unfortunately I think he’s gone, but you never know what’s going on in Formula 1.

“I didn’t expect that he is doing such a good job. It’s a positive surprise.”