Formula 1: Valtteri Bottas extends Mercedes contract

Finland's Valtteri Bottas signed a new contract with Mercedes, which will see them race for the world champions in 2018 as well. His current contract was due to run out at the end of the current season, but his good results persuaded Mercedes to offer him an extension. He joined the team at the start of 2017 as a replacement for retired world champion Nico Rosberg and went on to win two of this season's thirteen races. He is currently third in this year's drivers' championship behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel. "I am honoured and proud to continue to work with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in 2018 and to remain part of the Mercedes family," Bottas said."When the team hired me for the 2017 season, they took a leap of faith by putting their trust in my skills. This new contract for 2018 shows that I've earned that trust. I'm happy to have celebrated my first race wins in a Silver Arrow. However, there's always room for improvement and I still have not shown my full potential." Bottas has finished on the podium nine times this season, which is exactly what he had achieved before in four seasons at Williams. "We gave Valtteri a big challenge this year: joining the team at the eleventh hour, stepping up to the forefront of F1 and pairing with the sport's best driver as his team-mate," Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said. "With that in mind, his results have been probably even more impressive. There have been ups and downs - more ups, fewer downs - and some great highlights like his two race wins in Russia and Austria. Overall, the balance of his performances and his upward trajectory made it a no-brainer for us to continue with him into 2018." The next Formula 1 race is the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend and Valtteri Bottas is 9/1 at Bet365 to win the race, with team-mate Lewis Hamilton priced at 7/4.