Valtteri Bottas wins Russian Grand Prix

Valtteri Bottas has won his first Grand Prix in Formula 1. On Sunday, the finnish Mercedes driver finished in Sochi ahead of Ferrari drivers Sebastian Vettel (+0.617 seconds) and Kimi Raikkonen (+11) and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton (+36.320).

Bottas grabbed the first position at the start overtaking the two Ferraris in front of him and resisted in the final laps the strong pressure from Sebastian Vettel.

"Worth the wait!" said the imperturbable Bottas in typical understated style after coming home just six-tenths of a Sebastian Vettel at the flag.

The Finn moved from Williams to Mercedes shortly before the season started as a successor to the retired world champion Nico Rosberg. "It was an unusual opportunity to join this team on such short notice and I had a good learning curve."

Bottas became Finland’s fifth Formula One race winner following Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen, Kimi Raikkonen and Heikki Kovalainen, who was the last from the Nordic country to triumph, at the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix.