Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas took part in the second half of the official Thursday FIA Press conference at Japan's Suzuka circuit where he was hit with a barrage of questions regarding his seemingly lack of form since the mid-season break

The Finn was quick to admit after the Malaysian Grand Prix that he was not up to par, and reporters found it difficult to understand why he would talk negatively about his own performance.

He did admit however, that he was currently experiencing some of the most difficult moments of his career…

It hasn't been the easiest for you since the summer break and you said on Sunday evening in Malaysia that this might now be the most difficult moment of your career. Can you elaborate on that? Why is that?
Well, I think the main thing is just because, the only thing I want to do is to perform and to try and meet my goals what I set for me personally. I definitely haven't been achieving those lately, so that's why the feeling wasn't so positive after the race. So, for sure it's tricky because now, y'know, having such a good car and with potential for such good results, I just want to perform. So, that's why.

Has the car become harder to drive than it was earlier in the year when you were winning races, getting pole positions?
I think the compromises we've been needing to do in some circuits to get it into the right window has been quite a challenge sometimes to drive around. I think Lewis has been able to extract a little bit more sometimes with a more tricky setup. Some things with the driving style always makes a difference and to understand those, you always kind of need that bad weekend to learn from it – otherwise you don't know these differences. It's not massive things, it's small things but this sport is all about details and changing some things in your own driving, then it can sometimes be a bit of a challenge and then that way the driving maybe doesn't feel quite natural at times – but that's how it is. I see things positive because I think from all those difficult weekends we've had there's been so much to learn from, so much to get better from. Like the race in Malaysia. I've had so many answers to my questions from that race. We've been trying to work out every single detail with the engineers and trying to understand, so I've learned massively again from last weekend. That's why there's always a positive.

And talking about those details, is there anything when you look at the data that you can learn from a guy like Lewis Hamilton?
Yes, of course. From every team mate you can always learn something. From every single one. From every circuit there's always a thing or two you can pick up, especially from an experienced, extremely quick driver.

You have been very open and honest, talking about your current problem. Aren't you afraid that at that the same time you have been playing yourself down in public?
I don't really… I'm not really interested about what people say in public. I know, like I said before, I know just my own targets, my own goals and if I don't meet those, if I'm far away from those I'm not happy and then it's tricky. I'm always very honest with myself and if there's any single little bit I can improve myself and if I can look in the mirror and I can say I can improve something, normally I will improve it, one way or another. It's been a very difficult few races that I need to learn massively from and especially from Malaysia but that's now history. I'm now here and I'm looking forward. There's been weekends when I've learned massively so looking forward to the next one.

Valtteri, to go public on those thoughts as Heikki just referred to is a surprise to some people.
Normally I just say things how they are and how things were. I was not happy, that's it.

You've talked about what's happened since the summer break but whilst your teammate's been on the podium, you haven't got within half a second of him in qualifying, it's been a bit difficult. You said the compromises you've made but is it time to ask for a new chassis? Would that actually help some of your problems?
Well, if the team would find a problem with the chassis, with nowadays technology, before going just changing the chassis, you can find out if everything is alright and I trust the team as always, doing everything to make sure the car is in a good condition and well set-up. I trust the guys on that and who knows, maybe I've already asked before.

I'll take that as a yes, you have.
Erm, no, not really, directly. I think… what was the first one after the summer break? It was Belgium. I had a poor performance in the beginning of the race and also the qualifying wasn't great so I asked a lot of questions, you know, I just wanted to kind of take off any  things that could affect… I always want to make sure the machinery is good as well. So, like I said, I completely trust that the team is giving me a good car.