Valtteri Bottas backs teammate Lewis Hamilton to triumph in F1 championship fight
There are just three races to go in one of the hardest fought, most closely contested Formula One championships in recent history -- and Valtteri Bottas believes he knows where the drivers' title is headed.
His Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton trails Red Bull's Max Verstappen by 14 points ahead of this weekend's venture into previously uncharted F1 territory as Qatar prepares to host a grand prix for the first time.
"If I could predict the future I would say we're going to win the championship," Bottas told CNN Sport's Amanda Davies from trackside at the Losail International Circuit.
"It's not going to come easy and I'm definitely rooting for Lewis -- he's gonna get it."
Last week's thrilling Sao Paulo Grand Prix threw up yet more controversy between the two title contenders as Mercedes complained Verstappen had pushed Hamilton wide unfairly on lap 48 but race stewards took no further action.
The incident was merely the latest to stir a verbal spat between the teams this season, but Bottas believes that's just part of the sport.
"I feel like it's going to be won on the track, there's obviously lots of things going on off the track -- it's F1," Bottas said.
"I feel it's going to go, most likely, to Abu Dhabi and whoever is going to be the winner there is going be the champion," added Bottas, referring to the season finale on December 12.
Hamilton is looking to add to his seven F1 titles, while Verstappen is hunting for his first.
Bottas, who is set to leave Mercedes for Alfa Romeo at the end of this year's campaign, is third in the championship standings on 203 points. He picked up his only race win of the season in Turkey last month.
瓦尔特利·博塔斯支持队友刘易斯·汉密尔顿在 F1 冠军争夺战中获胜
在最近历史上最激烈、竞争最激烈的一级方程式锦标赛中，只有三场比赛要进行——瓦尔特利·博塔斯相信他知道车手冠军头衔的走向。
由于卡塔尔准备首次举办大奖赛，他的梅赛德斯队友刘易斯汉密尔顿在本周末进入之前未知的 F1 领域之前领先红牛的马克斯维斯塔潘 14 分。
“如果我能预测未来，我会说我们将赢得冠军，”博塔斯在洛赛尔国际赛车场的赛道旁告诉 CNN Sport 的阿曼达戴维斯。
“这并不容易，我肯定会支持刘易斯——他会得到的。”
上周激动人心的圣保罗大奖赛在两位冠军争夺者之间引发了更多争议，因为梅赛德斯抱怨维斯塔潘在第 48 圈不公平地将汉密尔顿推开，但比赛管理员没有采取进一步行动。
这起事件只是本赛季两队之间最近一次激起口水战，但博塔斯认为这只是这项运动的一部分。
博塔斯说：“我觉得它会在赛道上获胜，赛道外显然有很多事情要做——这是 F1。”
博塔斯在谈到 12 月 12 日的赛季结局时补充说：“我觉得这很可能会去阿布扎比，无论谁将成为冠军，谁都会成为冠军。”
汉密尔顿希望增加他的七个 F1 冠军头衔，而维斯塔潘正在寻找他的第一个冠军头衔。
将在今年赛季结束时离开梅赛德斯前往阿尔法罗密欧的博塔斯以 203 分在积分榜上排名第三。上个月，他在土耳其取得了本赛季唯一的一场比赛胜利。
