Mercedes’ Valtter♊i Bottas says his qualifying deficit to Lewis Hamilton so far this season has ‘pissed him off’ as he seeks 🎀to turn the tables on his Formula 1 teammate.

𒅌Hamilton has claimed five pole positions and five victories so far in 2020, while Bottas has taken the other t꧂wo poles on offer and scored just one win from the opening seven races.

At the Belgian Grand Prix last weekend, Hamilton stormed to his 93rd career pole by lapping 0.511s faster than Bottas in qualifying before leading every lap on his way to cruising to a co♏mfortable victory.

“Lewis has been realꦍly consistent, not making any mistakes in qualifying,” Bottas 🌳admitted.

“And as you [see with] the numbers, he’s had the upper handꩵ this year in ꦇqualifying, which honestly pisses me off.

“But of course I’🎉m trying and I do enjoy the challenge and I can’t wait for the next qualifying session next weekend.

“I feel my race pace this year has been better than any year before, so that’s a positive, so🌠 I feel like always in the race I’m there and I ca📖n fight for it.

“So now it’s just about🦩 trying to perform better and more consistently in qualifying s💦essions.”

Hamilton only managed five poles across the entirety of 2019 as Bottas appeared to make a step forward on Saturday🐻s, but speaking after the race in Belgium, the Briton explained why he feels he has had the upper hand so far this year.

“Last year Valtteri was putting in great laps as he always does but I think I was definitely under-performꩲing in qualify🦩ing, which is usually a strength of mine,” Hamilton said.

“It was really understanding these tyres and how I utilised it with my driving style. For 💙this year I’ve had to make a couple of adjustments and on top of that, with this car, seems to work quite we🦂ll.

“So now I’m back to being able to produce qualifying laps that I was able to do before last year, and🍎 on a more consi꧑stent basis.

“It’s just work in ♒the background. It’s work that we do on the simulator; it’s stuff we do with set-up but getting that right without affecting the race. As you saw, laꦉst year the races were incredibly strong. It’s the fine line.”

Following his sixth defeat to Hamilton on the spin, Bottas finds himself 50 points adrift in the championship – equiva𒊎lent to two race wins – but the Finn insists he is not ready to give up on his title hopes.

“Of course I’m trying everything I can” Bottas stressed. “The f🥃act is that it’s not over. There’s 10 or something races [left]. Obviously I had that one kind of a DNF with a puncture at Silverstone, lost points with that.

“If I would give up now then I would rather stay home, so I will keep pushing, I will still keep trying to find any🦂thing from myself that I can.

“It’s just really trying to perfect everything,” he added. “I didn’t in qual𓃲ifying, Lewis was on pole, he was faster🦋 on that lap, then today with that pole he could turn it into a win.

“Of course, the weekend real🐼ly starts with qualifying, trying to be on pole and th꧂en those weekends that don’t go for you, you really need to maximise the points…

“I’m working on everything, ꦿI’m trying but there’s still man𒉰y positives I can take.”