Toto Wolff: Valtteri Bottas has the ability to beat Lewis Hamilton

The 2018 F1 season was far from ideal for the Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas. Even as there were as many as 8 podium finishes for the Mercedes driver, the year would be a winless one for a man who last won at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Think about it for a second. You realize that it's been one full year since Valtteri Bottas stood at the top of the podium.

But that said, what made 2018 a lot worse for the Finnish driver was this his teammate, Lewis Hamilton not only made it to the podium on more occasions- 17 when compared to Bottas' eight - Hamilton won 11 Grands Prix while Bottas was elusive from the top spot on the podium.

But while Bottas has been criticized for having endured an average season, the one thing, however, that one's got to admire about him is the number of fastest laps he managed last year.

While his critics can hold on to their verdict on Valtteri, they must be reminded that no other driver can close to setting as many laps as the Finn recorded: 7.

But what now lies ahead of all teams is one single goal: to go all out in their bid to claim the 2019 Formula 1 world championship.

And to that regard, Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff recently shared his humble two cents about Bottas and his skills vis-a-vis Lewis'.

According to the Austrian, Bottas certainly has the ability to beat Lewis Hamilton to claim the world title. But having said that, he also shared that beating the five-time world champion, who is currently driving in the form of his life, may not be an easy task at all.

Well, truth be told, one cannot disagree with Wolff's observations- isn't it?

While so much of Formula 1 is embedded in the realm of unpredictability, there being uncertainty at the end of a lap and unexpectedness at every chicane, who's to know what might eventually happen?

And while there's little doubt about Valtteri's natural pace- as amply defined by his stack of fastest records in 2018- the only thing that that does appear like an insurmountable problem for him would indeed be Hamilton.

It doesn't look seem whether the Stevenage-born will leave any stone unturned in his bid to grab a sixth title, an achievement that'll further up his game and in the process, perhaps deal a massive blow to the confidence of those who come in his path.