Bottas has to up game to stay silver in F1

Mercedes-AMG F1 driver Valtteri Bottas knows that he can't afford any mistakes this year if he's to retain his Silver Arrows drive into 2019 and beyond.

Bottas joined Mercedes in mid-January last year, and took three impressive wins under heavy pressure - Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel breathing down his neck in Russia and Austria, his teammate Lewis Hamilton in Abu Dhabi.

However, the Finn needs to work on his consistency - beginning with this weekend's Australian Grand Prix - if he hopes to stay with the squad.

With rival drivers like Daniel Ricciardo and Silver Arrows protégé Esteban Ocon available at the end of the season, the pressure on Bottas to perform is obvious.

"I can't have bad races for myself. I want to be consistent, good in every place," Bottas said.

"For sure I need to try and always perform on a good level and yes, especially if Lewis is having a bad day or bad race for any reason - then I need to be able to fight for the win of the race."

The Finn's biggest weakness last year was qualifying, despite four pole positions, where he was on average 0.254s adrift of Hamilton over the 20-race calendar – with an improvement in the season's second half.

He also needs to work on his starts after being out-gunned from pole in Brazil last year by front row veteran Vettel.

However, the Finn has the right approach to upping his game and closing the gap on Hamilton, which is no mean feat with the Brit arguably the sport's fastest man - his 72 poles an all-time record.

"I'm just really going to focus on my performance," the 28-year-old Finn said.

"Go day by day, session by session, lap by lap and try to be at my best every single time I’m on track."

Despite the high stakes, Bottas is feeling far more comfortable this time around, compared with his rollercoaster debut year with Mercedes.

The Finn famously joined Hamilton as a late ring-in for Nico Rosberg, whose decision to retire five days after winning the 2016 F1 World Championship shocked the sport.

"(It's) Definitely less pressure," he said.

"Starting my second year with the team, I learned so much last season so now we can really just get on with it and focus on the results, focus on the performance.

"I got my first race wins, first poles. That's all done. So now I need more."

As for Melbourne this weekend, Bottas is quietly confident but knows that Ferrari and Red Bull Racing are both potential threats.

"We know that long straights normally hasn't been a weakness for us, so we expect to be strong in Melbourne. But if we're going to be ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull, we can't promise."