Bottas ’more direct’ with Mercedes in 2019

Valtteri Bottas says he is being "more aggressive" with his team in 2019.

The Finn ended the 2018 season under a serious cloud, given his poor performance and the ominous presence of potential 2020 replacement Esteban Ocon.

But after four races in 2019, the newly-bearded Bottas has won twice and actually leads the world championship by a single point ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

"I think this year has been different from last year," Brazil’s Globo quotes the 29-year-old as saying.

"I have been more direct and perhaps even more aggressive with how big changes can be made in practice and what kind of direction to go in," he said.

"I have definitely improved with that."

Not just that, Bottas has a new race engineer this year, after Tony Ross went over to Mercedes’ new Formula E programme.

"I have a new team of engineers," he confirmed, "with a new performance and race engineer, so that brings a lot of different ideas to the table and a new way of thinking.

"That makes me think of different things in the setup, and what works for me in qualifying, the race, everything," said Bottas.

"There were big developments there, I think, from my side."