Bottas only focusing on F1

Valtteri Bottas has admitted that he currently has no desire to follow in the footsteps of Fernando Alonso and compete in Le Mans and the Indy 500 to claim the motorsport 'triple crown', but has praised the Spaniard for having the energy to compete on different fronts.

The Finn made his debut for Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton last season, and although he won a few Grand Prix races, including the finale in Abu Dhabi, he never looked likely to compete for the world championship.

He remains positive about his chances this campaign, but only if he focuses on F1 fully, unlike Alonso.

"If he feels he has the time and energy for that, it's no issue," he told Ilta Sanomat newspaper in reference to Alonso's exploits in other motorsport disciplines.

"Maybe he likes to try new things because he's been in formula one for a long time.

"But at this point I don't think I would like to start mixing other series with the formula one season. I'd rather focus fully on formula one."

The Formula One calendar is already bloated in 2018 compared to previous seasons, with 21 races to be competed.

Bottas thinks that the limit should be 25, as anymore would present huge logistical difficulties for the constructor teams and the drivers.

"We have 21 races now but 25 is definitely the upper limit," Bottas continued.

"It's going to be difficult on the logistics side to do that. There are the people to think about and costs will also get a lot higher if the teams have to get more people in."