Valtteri Bottas has made it clear that victory is his goal at this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, unless he is required to support teammate Lewis Hamilton's title challenge against Max Verstappen. Bottas will make his 100th appearance with Mercedes at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, having spent five seasons racing alongside Hamilton - who has notched up every world title during that period. As things stand in 2021, Hamilton trails Verstappen by eight points, while Mercedes lead Red Bull by five points.
"Winning is the target, always"
Speaking to accredited media, including RacingNews365.com , Bottas stated that he will be going all out for victory, providing circumstances do not require him to step aside for Hamilton. "Obviously, for me, winning the race!" Bottas laughed, when asked about his goal for the weekend. "That's the target, always. "If that's not the case, then [we need to] maximise the points, especially in the Constructors' [battle] - it's an important one and it's super close. "So [we'll be] trying to have a strong, clean weekend as a team, without issues, and hopefully with a big amount of points, and we move on to Abu Dhabi. "I think that's the optimal outcome from this weekend."
"It could get a bit messy"
Bottas added that it is "impossible to predict" which team will hold the pace advantage this weekend, but is looking forward to the challenge of the 6.174km, 27-corner circuit. "It's really high speed, quite narrow in places, definitely penalising for any mistakes," he said of the layout. "I'm looking forward to actually feeling how it is in real life - it's an interesting one. "[We need to] try to stay out of trouble, because it's a new track and I feel like it could be a bit messy at times, with the track still being a bit dirty and etcetera." Bottas holds third in the Drivers' standings, 13 points clear of Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
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