Bottas to heed Hakkinen’s title-winning advice

Valtteri Bottas says he is happy to have a two-time world champion in his corner as he steps up to F1’s top team in 2017.

Now almost two decades ago, it was fellow Finn Mika Hakkinen who found himself at F1’s dominant team - McLaren-Mercedes - and he duly won back to back titles in 1998 and 1999.

Now, 48-year-old Hakkinen is a prominent member of Bottas’ management team, particularly with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff having to take a step back to avoid a conflict of interest.

Asked if he is happy to have Hakkinen in his corner, Bottas said: "Mika’s experience will definitely be useful to me.

"He has been in the same type of situation that I am in now — a new car that could also be a winning car. But Mika’s help is always useful and I listen to him carefully," the 27-year-old added.