F1
Lewis Larkam 6y

Valtteri Bottas rates 2017 'disappointing' despite Abu Dhabi win

Formula 1

Valtteri Bottas has labelled his first season at Mercedes as "disappointing", despite claiming three Formula One victories and dominating the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Bottas joined the reigning world champions as Nico Rosberg's replacement, following the German's shock retirement just days after clinching his maiden F1 title in 2016. The Finn enjoyed a competitive start to life at the German manufacturer, picking up two pole positions and two race wins as he headed into the summer break looking like a serious championship challenger.

But a poor patch of form following the summer break, coupled with a strong end to 2017 from Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton -- who took five victories from the final nine races of the campaign -- saw Bottas' title hopes evaporate as he was forced to settle with third place in the standings behind Hamilton and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel.

When asked to sum up his season in one word, Bottas replied: "Disappointing."

However, Bottas impressed in Abu Dhabi as he beat Hamilton to pole position on Saturday, before converting his front-row start into victory with a commanding drive. Hamilton remained close throughout, but Bottas thwarted his teammate's advances to end the season on a high.

"It is really important win for me after having a pretty difficult start to the second half of the year," he said after the race. "Working hard on all the issues and getting better and better with everything. This weekend, I couldn't be happier to end the season like this."

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said ahead of qualifying that it was "very important" for Bottas to end 2017 with a win, and praised his driver for recovering strongly from a difficult mid-season slump.

"He had a very strong qualifying session and race that he was in control of all the time," Wolff explained after qualifying. "Fair and square racing between him and Lewis and I think carrying positive momentum with a race win through the winter after a difficult time this year is probably for him just what the doctor ordered.

"The best ones are the ones that recover from bad moments. May be in a few years and say this was an important moment for his racing. The only thing we can do as a racing team is to stay transparent and fair to both of them, support them. But eventually they are alone in the car. He pulled himself out of it."

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