Bottas: "Only winning is good enough"

As F1 nears the end of its annual summer break, Valtteri Bottas finds himself in a respectable third in the drivers' standings, 33 points away from leader Sebastian Vettel and 19 behind second-placed Lewis Hamilton. Despite this, however, the Mercedes driver is somewhat disappointed, having hoped to be much closer to the front by this point in the season.

"I was hoping to be slightly better positioned in the championship, and also as a team I think," Bottas said to Autosport. "We are still looking good in the Constructors', but we have had some difficult races for us, which is not ideal. For us as a team, only winning is good enough, that's always got to be the target. I think we definitely have work to do. I have work to do."

With two wins under his belt so far in 2017, the Finn has unquestionably adjusted well to life at Mercedes, but he says there is still more to come from him as he looks to disturb the main title fight ahead: "There are still things I can improve, as long as I keep working with the team as we've been doing at this point of the year.

"I know the second half will be better for me, and my best performances are still on the way. I would say the first half has been average, because I always set targets very high, but obviously (there have been) some good moments as well."

Mason Hawker