Wolff salutes Bottas after his victory

Valtteri Bottas leads Lewis Hamilton on his way to winning Sunday's Australian Grand Prix. Photo: LAT Images

Mercedes AMG Petronas Team boss Toto Wolff saluted Valtteri Bottas following his victory in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Bottas took his fourth career victory and his first in Australia for the Brackley team while team-mate and world champion Lewis Hamilton finished in second place.

Wolff said: “That was an awesome drive for Valtteri, a perfect rebound after how last season finished. Over the winter, he recharged the batteries, reset, found his joy of driving again with the rally in Finland, then it all came together for him.

“My feeling is that it can be tricky to find the sweet spot with these new cars and tyres, and probably we didn’t manage that with Lewis. Overall, though, a fantastic day for the team and a perfect result in the opening race.”

Bottas said: “We could not have asked for a better start to the season, getting maximum points for the team is a perfect result. It’s also an important result for me personally, I’m really pleased with how the race went.”

Hamilton said: “We showed a great performance and we need to continue to build on this – we have a long season ahead of us.”