Bottas hopes Sochi just the first of many victories

Having claimed his first Grand Prix victory in just over four seasons of Formula 1 competition, Valtteri Bottas hopes the second won't take nearly so long.

"Now I've got my first one - hopefully the first of many - now I know how to do it in Formula 1," the Finn said in Sochi on Sunday. "I'm only expecting better races from here.

"It took quite a while - more than 80 races for me - but definitely worth the wait, definitely worth the learning curve.

"Obviously I'm really happy. It's difficult to explain the feeling, it's a little bit surreal. It's the first one and all the work that has gone into achieving this is amazing."

The key moment was the start, with Bottas getting the jump on both Ferraris to take the lead on the first lap.

"I think normally here starting from the second row is not too bad," he suggested. "Had a good start, if anything maybe slightly better than the guys in front. Obviously managed to get inside for turn 1.

"That was okay, but I'm a bit more happy about the safety car restart actually.

"The last ten laps I was asking for a bit of radio silence actually from the team. Just wanted it a bit more like home, nice and quiet. That helped, then I could focus on the driving itself."

Bottas denied that he was feeling under any pressure from Sebastian Vettel in the closing laps.

"There was not much going on really. I was just trying to get the most out of every lap. The main thing really was the backmarkers - getting through the traffic, not losing too much time or having any accidents with them."

• Brilliant start hands Bottas maiden GP win

Bottas finished on the podium nine times in his spell at Williams. But it's the switch to Mercedes at the start of 2017 that's given him the chance to really show what he can do. He's picked up three in the first four races of the season including this first win.

"This strange opportunity came to me in the winter to join this team and they made it possible today," he acknowledged. "Just very thankful to the team for making it possible.

"It was a tough race with Ferrari again today but we managed to keep in front.

"We've had a tricky beginning of the year with the fight with Ferrari. Again today was very close. We managed to be on top, but we need to keep pushing.

"We need to keep finishing with both cars, all the time one and two. That's the plan," he said, adding that his ultimate aim was to win the world title. "For me, that's the only goal in my career so we'll keep pushing for that."

The win certainly points to Bottas having made an early claim to having earned a rapid contract extension.

"I think this weekend I performed well. I guess the team is happy with the performance at this weekend, obviously.

"The first few races haven't had quite my best results for different reasons, the results haven't been there."

Bottas hoped that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff would be happy with how things were going.

"He knows exactly my performance, he's never doubted my skills, and I'm just keen to prove more in the next few races."

GALLERY: All the pictures from Sunday in Sochi

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