F1 | Bottas' revenge takes place in Melbourne

A great performance on Saturday, an absolute phenomenon on Sunday. Perhaps these two qualifying adjectives alone would not be enough to describe Valtteri Bottas' Australian Grand Prix weekend.

The first race of the new season, held today at Albert Park in Melbourne, gave us a Bottas that we had honestly never seen in his entire career. The Finn had played (and won) good races in the past, but without the drive and competitive intensity shown in the last few hours. Only teammate Lewis Hamilton's masterpiece deprived him yesterday of a pole position that he would have deserved. But calm is the virtue of the strong and Valtteri waited for the right moment to take the stage, taking advantage of the slight slide of the #44 Mercedes at the start.

After the first corner, the Finn greeted the group, imposing a frenetic pace on the race that no one was able to keep up with. 'Timidly' Max Verstappen tried - but in vain - to snatch the fastest lap of the race from him, but Valtteri the cannibal was so hungry today that he didn't even leave crumbs to the competition.

In all humility Bottas declared at the end of the race:having played the best race”. A victory that smacks of redemption towards his many detractors (certainly to explain Bottas's success today they would point to the underlying problem accused by Hamilton, so as not to backtrack) who have always labeled him as 'butler', 'stopper' and 'yes man' Mercedes.

Today the Finn (metaphorically) popped that cork from the winner's bottle of champagne, savoring that lustful taste of victory and redemption.

Cheers clearly to all his detractors.

Well done, Valtteri!