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Cape Town - Valtteri Bottas has said he will not be attempting any mind games with Lewis Hamilton over the course of the 2018 season, calling them a "waste of energy".
One of the criticisms facing the Finn as he fights once again for a new Mercedes contract is a supposed lack of a killer instinct, but Bottas is not interested in trying to get under his team-mate's skin and create drama.
"I just want to win as many races as I can and that way the championship, I don't need to change anything else what I do," Bottas said.
"I'm not going to start for example playing any mental games or anything in the team, because I think like this it works well. It is up to me how I perform on track, and I'll decide if I'll show muscle when it's needed.
"Every driver has weaknesses, that's how it goes, but rather than focusing too much on him I'm going to spend my energy and focus on myself and my performance on track, and if I perform at the level that I'm aiming to every single race, I hope that will do the job," he said.
"I'm not going to start waste my energy playing any games."
Bad weather continues to affect running at the first winter test in Barcelona, but Bottas feels it has not been a complete waste and Mercedes have managed to get some important work done.
"I've learned a lot how to get the tyres to warm up," Bottas added.
"I've learned about the new car and general behaviour and how it handles. I still need to really unlock everything and really test the limits.
"From our aero testing we managed to complete all of it already, which is always going to be good for the future," he said.
"We've got some mechanical tests already and got some answers and we can trust at a good percentage, even though it's cold.
"So it's not two days lost. But everyone is looking forward to tomorrow (Thursday) and next week."
