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Bottas feels he matches Maldonado

Valtteri Bottas: "I would say that I match him more-or-less" © Sutton Images

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• Drivers:
• Valtteri Bottas
• |
• Pastor Maldonado

• Teams:
• Williams

Valtteri Bottas believes he has "more-or-less" matched Pastor Maldonado in the opening six races of his Formula One career.

Bottas made the step up from Williams reserve driver to race driver this season, but has yet to score a point as the team struggles with its 2013 car. However, Bottas has beaten Maldonado on four occasions by virtue of his team-mate only finishing half of the races, but also holds the advantage in qualifying as well. Bottas says he has proven himself against Maldonado but is still learning things from him.

"I think my performances relative to Pastor have been pretty good," Bottas told the official Formula One website. "Pastor is experienced - it's already his third year at Williams - and I would say that I match him more-or-less. I can't really point at one particular thing that I've learned from him, but of course you pick up things, especially at a track like Monaco that I didn't know before this season. I was reading his data very carefully to see how he was doing it."

With Williams continuing to struggle in 2013, Bottas admits his main aim is now to improve on a personal level in the hope that results will follow.

"In terms of the rest of the season, I have set a target for myself to improve as much as I can as a driver; to get better in the races and to give better feedback on the car. We have a lot of work to do together but there is no doubt in my mind that the results will come."

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