Valtteri Bottas believes Mercedes is "not miles clear" of the Formula 1 field despite teammate Lewis Hamilton's dominant display for much of the Australian Grand Prix race weekend, with the Finn anticipating a🍌 close championship battle.

While Bottas could only finish eighth in Australia after a qualifying crash resigned him to 15th place on the grid, Hamilton took pole position by six-tenths of 𒆙a second a𓆏nd looked bound for victory in the race, only to come unstuck due to a badly-timed Virtual Safety Car period.

Paddock consensus was that Mercedes remains the team to beat in F1 this year, with Australia race winner Sebastian Vettel fearing Ferrari has taken a backward s🌱tep compared to its main rival.

However, Bottas is anticipating a c♉lose fight against Ferrari throughout the seไason, rejecting the suggestion Mercedes has surged clear of the pack.

"It seems very close. Ferrari obviously won today, they were first and third, but they also won here last year," Bo🌱ttas s💎aid.

"I think it’s going to be a close season. We’re not miles ahead. I th🎃ink Lewis really got everything right in Q3, maybe the other teams' drivers didn’t get everything perfect.

"So I t൩hink it’s going to be a big battle and it’s going to be a tough season.🗹"

Bottas struggled to fight his way through the field in Australia, putting it down to a mixture of the dif🐎ficulty of overtaking at the Albert Park circuit and the stronger midfield in 201𝓰8.

"Definitely the pace of all the teams is much closer," Bottas said. "I also think that this year, the cars have more downforce, and with the way the ♎aerodynamics work in the cars, it’s even mꦍore difficult to follow than last year, so the losses are bigger.

"It was not a good weekend, but what can you do? I think the mistake I made in qualifying kind of ruined mꦉy weekend. We tried to maximise and this was the result.

"But I’m not panicking. This was just oꦏne race out of 21, so we have a long year ahead."