Valtteri Bottas at front of Williams team revival heading to Hungarian Grand Prix

Finnish Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas is a strong reason Williams has seen a return to competitiveness this season. David Ebener / EPA

Budapest // Valtteri Bottas is convinced he can follow in the footsteps of Mika Hakkinen and Kimi Raikkonen and become the next Finnish Formula One world champion.

Following a difficult debut campaign with Williams, on the basis the car simply was not up to scratch, Bottas has since rewarded owner Frank Williams's early faith and produced sterling performances this campaign.

In a car second only to the dominant Mercedes on Sunday at the German Grand Prix, Bottas became the first Williams driver for 11 years to clinch three successive podium finishes.

A third in Austria, followed by runner-up spots in the past two races, at Silverstone and Hockenheim, have suggested Bottas, 24, has the potential to go on to great things.

He certainly showed a cool head and nerves of steel in Germany as he came under attack from a charging Lewis Hamilton over the closing laps to clinch second behind Nico Rosberg.

Rob Smedley, Williams’s head of vehicle performance, said Bottas is “a great driver … who could become an exceptional driver”, with the team “lucky” to have him.

As to how he takes that step up, Bottas said: “In Formula One it’s never easy.

“The level is really high.

“There are so many great drivers, a number of world champions on the grid, so trying to be the best is not easy, but that’s the goal.

“What you need to do to achieve that is to keep learning, developing, and hopefully I’ve a long career ahead of me, so time to improve as a driver.

“That’s the target, like it has always been race by race. You just need to try and keep improving in all areas.”

Hakkinen won his world titles in 1998 and 1999 with McLaren, and Raikkonen was a champion in 2007 with Ferrari.

With Williams seemingly on the rise again following a number of years in the wilderness, whether Bottas could claim his own crown with the team remains to be seen.

“My main aim is to be world champion. It’s always been. Nothing less is enough,” Bottas said.

“Williams is a team definitely going the right way.

“It’s the goal for all of us together to be world champions, and it would be really great to achieve that with them.”

For Bottas, the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday represents the closest thing to a home race; many Finns often make the trek to Budapest.

A fourth consecutive trip to the podium is in Bottas’s sights as he aims to head into F1’s summer break “with a good feeling ... There are always a few fans from Finland, it’s almost like a Finnish GP, so I hope to pay the fans back with a good result.”

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Kimi Raikkonen safe with Ferrari for now

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Raikkonen's future at Ferrari would appear to be safe in the wake of team principal Marco Mattiacci's glowing reference.

Raikkonen’s return to Ferrari has been difficult for a driver who won his 2007 world title with the Maranello marque.

Fireworks were expected this season between Raikkonen and teammate Fernando Alonso as the two world champions battled for supremacy within the team.

Alonso has again sparkled and dragged results from a car off the pace of the all-conquering Mercedes, but Raikkonen has struggled.

The Finn has been out-qualified by Alonso in eight of the 10 grands prix so far but, worse still, he has finished behind the Spaniard in every race.

Following Sunday’s German Grand Prix in which Alonso conjured a fifth place while Raikkonen was outside of the points, in 11th, the former made clear his disappointment with the latter’s result.

“We have only been able to count on one car again, and we have to improve on that,” Alonso said.

Heading into this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, Raikkonen has won only 19 points, 78 adrift of Alonso.

There has been talk Ferrari could buy out the remaining year of Raikkonen’s contract that expires at the end of next season, as they did at the end of 2009, allowing them to sign Alonso.

Certainly, Raikkonen did himself few favours earlier this month when he said he would likely quit F1 at the end of 2015.

Yet Mattiacci is in no doubt Raikkonen’s form will return, as he said: “Kimi is the driver we need. We need to make more points, but he’s the driver we need.

“He knows what he can do better. He’s a professional driver, he won a world championship with Ferrari, he’s motivated, he knows his area of improvement.

“He sees Fernando ahead, he sees it is tough and it’s a tough moment, but we are all together in this.

“He has the utmost confidence and support from Ferrari.”

- Press Association

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