Wolff: Bottas must get up to speed quickly

Mar.10 - Toto Wolff says Valtteri Bottas does not have long to get up to speed in 2017.

Recently, after the champion team signed up the Finn to replace Nico Rosberg, chairman Niki Lauda said Bottas has four races to start emulating Rosberg's former contribution.

"I agree with Niki," team boss Wolff has now told the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.

In Barcelona, F1 legend Lauda said that while Bottas is only two tenths behind Hamilton on qualifying pace, the 27-year-old is further off on a long run.

Wolff said: "Valtteri does not have a lot of time to prove he can be at Nico's level, to perform well against Lewis Hamilton and help the team keep up the development direction and speed in the car.

"It is clear that Valtteri needs to learn how to swim quickly."

Wolff also agrees with the growing paddock sentiment that Ferrari is looking set to be a strong challenger for the title in 2017.

"We take them seriously," said the Austrian.

"When the rules change it is an opportunity for everyone."

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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