sport news Bottas lost 11-0 to Hamilton last season but is now a winner at last

Valtteri Bottas, fuelled by a breakfast of porridge, produced the finest drive of his life to win the Australian Grand Prix and spoil the script for Lewis Hamilton on the first outing of his title defence.

All Bottas’s pent-up frustration went into a display that left his Mercedes team-mate Hamilton 21 seconds adrift in runners-up spot.

Told by his race engineer Riccardo Musconi that the victory made up for last year, when he was vanquished 11-0 in race wins by the five-times world champion, Bottas replied: ‘To whom it may concern, f*** off.’ 

That was aimed at the detractors. It showed a new determination. He spent part of the winter doing what Finns do best — knocking back the vodka — to purge his mind of the ferocity of Hamilton’s form that had robbed him of confidence and called many to question whether he was fit for a team of Mercedes’ strength.

He even looked a touch meaner here in Melbourne, courtesy of a beard, newly grown to please his wife Emilia, an Olympic swimmer.

He decided to go for the extra point that, as of this race, is awarded for fastest lap. He managed it, too. He leads the championship for the first time in his career, 26 points to Hamilton’s 18.

The race result was settled in the 250 yards into the first corner. Hamilton, on pole, did not appear to get away too badly — there was no discernible wheelspin — but Bottas was off like greased lightning and into an early lead, which he maintained easily as he took the inside of the first corner, the right-hander.

He then powered away. The race of his life? ‘Definitely,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what happened. Everything was perfect.’ He was at a loss to explain his form, as if he had lived through an out-of-body experience.