Bottas wants to shut the door on Ricciardo at Mercedes

Valtteri Bottas has no issues with persistent speculation linking Daniel Ricciardo to his Mercedes seat and remains determined to prove his worth to the Silver Arrows. With Ricciardo's Red Bull contract expiring at the end of the year, he could have the pick of Formula 1's top three teams next season.

Both Bottas and Ferrari incumbent Kimi Raikkonen are also on contracts which do not extend into 2019, hence the wealth of options available to Ricciardo.

The Australian played down reports that he has agreed a deal with Ferrari, but also talked up relishing the challenge of partnering Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas saw a briefly flickering title challenge quickly fizzle out last year, but he has outperformed Hamilton in two of the three races thus far in 2018 and remains determined to keep his place with the constructors' champions.

"It's normal. I was used to it last year, the same this year," Bottas said of the speculation buzzing around F1.

"It's nothing new for me. I am 100 percent happy to just focus on myself, performing well.

"If I keep performing like the last couple of races, I see no issues."

Mercedes' three-race drought is their worst run without a race victory in the hybrid era, with Bottas seeing chance to win in Bahrain and China slipping through his fingers including following Ricciardo home in second in Shanghai.

"The competition is really tough. It's these three teams battling for the wins as we were expecting after winter testing so that's the situation," Bottas said.

"It's all about fine details and getting everything right in the races. I think we've had a car in the first three races that could have won the race, performance wise but there's always something happening.

"In Bahrain, we got very close to the win. I think also in China, without different situations and safety cars so the speed we have is extremely close with Ferrari and Red Bull.

"We just need to keep it together and try and release more performance. I am sure it will come."