Valtteri Bottas bounces back in style

Valtteri Bottas had come under fire throughout the second half the 2017 Formula 1 season. The winner in Russia and Austria had been very much in the shade of teammate Lewis Hamilton following the summer break, but looked to have bounced back in Brazil with a superb pole position. He squandered that at the start and allowed Sebastian Vettel to win the race, but after an incredible lap in qualifying in Abu Dhabi saw him take back to back poles, he followed it up with a flawless win in a straight fight with the new world champion. Valtteri Bottas, is back.

Abu Dhabi was very much an all Mercedes affair, but it was also expected to be the Hamilton show. His crash in qualifying back in Brazil saw Mercedes fit a brand new power unit, and many expected this to give Hamilton a significant advantage at a track that rewards power. Hamilton duly dominated all but FP1, then Q3 saw Bottas pull out perhaps the best lap he ever has done to snatch pole from Hamilton and go against the form book of the previous day. Hamilton admitted Bottas had just done a better job, Vettel hailing it as a "mega" lap and with good reason. Bottas' margin of 0.172 over Hamilton, in the same car with a new power unit was extraordinary. Clearly, he was really overcoming his issues.

There were still doubts in the paddock on whether he could beat Hamilton off the line, let alone in the race. Perhaps unfairly, Hamilton was still tipped as the favorite for the win. At the start though Bottas held onto the lead, and built up a small but handy gap of just over two seconds over Hamilton as the pair pulled away slowly from Vettel. Following the pitstops however, Hamilton closed right up to Bottas and was less than half a second behind at one point, piling the pressure on and very much keeping the Finn on his toes. But despite all that, Bottas did not buckle and in the last few laps, he bolted. He was over five seconds clear of Hamilton as he exited the last corner, slowing down to celebrate with his team members hanging over the pitwall and complete the most impressive performance of his career to date.

Of course we do not know whether Bottas can do this consistently over a season. This performance came at the end of the year and to be fair to Bottas, against not only a very fast driver but one that has been embedded at Mercedes for five seasons in a car designed for Hamilton and Rosberg, not Hamilton and Bottas. With a full winter behind him at Mercedes, his deal to join the team coming very late in January of course, there is every chance that the young Finn will improve massively next year. Inter-team fireworks may yet be set off once again within the Silver Arrows. For now though, Bottas is most certainly back, and with a performance worthy of a world champion. 2018 could be big Valtteri Bottas.