Bottas thinks he's made a "good start" to Mercedes career

Bottas lost ground to Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel when he struggled for grip in he early part of the race, but in the second half of the race he closed in on his teammate.

The Finn finished in third place, less than two seconds behind Hamilton.

"I always put very high targets but I think that works for me," Bottas said. "That makes me work harder, I haven't this weekend felt any negatives on myself, it's only good for me to think of my weaknesses and strengths.

"I'm not worried about that, I think like I said in general in the weekend overall, although at times I feel it wasn't ideal, but I think it was a decent start with the team and the new age for me and my career.

"I know there's always more to come ahead and I just need to keep doing what I do and we'll be okay. I trust my skills.

"I think what I said really helped me is the team. I feel there's a big support and everyone's helping me out.

"If there's any questions or I'm missing information there's immediately a person who will help and support me and that makes a big difference to step up to this team.

"I think in this sport if no one can do anything by himself, it's done by a team. It's helping but as a person I don't usually panic."

Like Hamilton, Bottas admitted Mercedes has to do some work on tyre usage.

"Particularly the second half of the race was very good, and I was pleased with that," said the Finn. "The pace was good and the car was feeling much better with the soft tyres and the main thing for us to understand and for me, is the ultrasofts.

"We were way off and sliding around and losing grip. I think in general, overall, a good start with the team in my first race with the time to prepare for the first race wasn't that big, so it's about continuing from here."