Valtteri Bottas says there wasn’t much to separate him and Lewis Hamilton in this year’s championship fight, despite the points gap between them widening as his team mate clinched the title.

Hamilton secured the championship at the last race in Turkey, drawing 110 points clear of Bottas with 78 available over the remaining rounds.

“It is a fact that for me, the championship is lost,” Bottas acknowledged. However he said there are “many positives I can take” from the year so far.

“I’ve been able to improve on many areas,” he said. “For sure still not enough to win the title but I’ll keep pushing.

“There were some unlucky races that I lost some points. But there were also races that Lewis was better than me and that’s, in the end, how he made the difference.”

Bottas said the gap between them in terms of performance “was sometimes about really fine margins, whether it was about qualifying or how the race ended up in terms of what kind of strategy I was pushing for or he was pushing for.”

“In this sport, the points difference can look pretty big now, I know,” said Bottas, “but in the end it comes down to fine margins.

“I’ve been unable to be as consistently at such a top level than Lewis has been this year, so I think that’s made a difference. It’s not a lot, but it is enough to win.

“That’s something I’ll really keep pushing on for the future because I feel I’m getting better each year. So that gives me hope and motivation and I will push more to try and keep growing for the future and now especially for next year.”

Bottas will equal his best championship result, which he also scored last season, if he beats Max Verstappen to second place over the remaining races.

“From my side, of course, the season is not finished yet,” said Bottas. “We still have three races.”

“There’s still a lot you can do and try and get a positive ending to the year,” he added.

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2020 Bahrain Grand Prix

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