Valtterꦕi Bottas says his maiden year at Mercedes has been a fast-track learning experience and is approaching 2018 with a different mindset.

The Finnish driver became the last-minute replacement to Nico Rosberg after his shock retirement call just days after sealing a first Formula 1 world title which catapulted Bottas from midfield fighter to title contender. Despite suffering a mid-season blip of form, Bottas feels he’s learnt and improved at every round and placed sp𓄧ecial emphasis on those races he strug꧃gled at.

As a result, Bottas is eager to build on his foundation year at Mercedes to provide a more consistent challenge to both team-mate L꧅ewis Hamilton and front-running rivals Ferrari and Red Bull.

“It is crazy to think that last year I was still with Williams, knowing as a fact that I was going to be driving 2017 with them, and now I'm he💙re, winning with Mercedes," Bottas said after winning in Abu Dhabi. “It's a bit crazy, but life is.

“It's been an incredible season for me in terms of how much I have learned with this team, with Lewis. I t🃏hink every single race I've always been able to find something, especially from the tricky ones. I just need to go race-by-race next year but it gives me a lot of confidence.”

Bottas has secured a new one-year deal to stay at Mercedes for 2018 but will b൩e under pressure to improve his results in order to keep his place at the German manu💧facturer beyond next season. Mercedes look determined to lockdown Hamilton with a long-term deal, rumoured to be a new three-year contract worth up to £120m, while team principal Toto Wolff was keen to keep his options open for the future having handed Bottas a one-year deal.

In 2017 Bottas notched up his maiden pole positions and race 🌄wins in F1 taking four poles and three wins in total plus an additional 10 rostrum results to match both Hamilton’s and Sebastian Vettel’s total podiums this year.