Wolff: Hamilton and Bottas our best possible combination

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has claimed that the driver partnership of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas that performed throughout the 2017 season was the best possible combination that the team could have had, as speculation mounts over the future team-mate for Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton won his fourth world championship in 2017 while Bottas finished third, with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel sandwiched in between, as Mercedes clinched the constructor's title.

Bottas enjoyed a strong end to the season, gaining pole in Brazil before going on to finish second, then winning in Abu Dhabi to bring the season to a close.

Despite this there has been continued speculation over the driver line-up for 2019, with Daniel Ricciardo from Red Bull hotly tipped to be a target if the decision is taken to change the team.

However, Wolff told ESPN that he is pleased with his current selection and that, given the situation, he couldn't have asked for a better duo.

He said: "The team is strong I would say, at the moment. Valtteri [Bottas] has filled the slot quite will and thinking how the championship panned out, Valtteri and Lewis [Hamilton] was probably the best combination we could have had.

"In terms of the organisation, I'm extremely happy that all the relevant people have stayed in the team and continue to develop the organisation, we have young leaders coming up now and they will be shortly picking up the ball.

"And James (Allison) is doing a tremendous job together with Aldo [Costa], Mark Elliott and Mark Ellis as well as many others to restructure the department regularly.

“A racing team in Formula One is not a static structure that you can freeze and say 'this is functioning now and is winning races and championships, now let's freeze it'. On the contrary, you need to adapt, it's dynamic and in up until now it has worked out."