Valtteri Bottas believes he has learnt more about himself as a driver in his first year at Mercedes in 2017 than in any of his prior four seasons on the Formula 1 grid.

The Finn made a late jump to the world champions after the shock decision of Nico Rosberg to retire after last season but has settled in well, immediately keeping Lewis Hamilton honest from the first race.

Still somewhat in the championship race at the summer break, thanks to his first two F1 wins in Russia and Austria, the second half would be more difficult as his teammate upped the ante and Bottas struggled to get the most from the 'diva' but he would enjoy some late success with a third win at the finale in Abu Dhabi.

"I think as a driver I’ve definitely learned a lot," the 28-year-old said, reflecting on his year. "I’ve felt that sometimes I had quite a hard lesson, I really struggled in some races with the car and my driving. 

"I really have to work on many of the issues and learn from those and get better. I think out of all the seasons I’ve had in F1, this is the one where I’ve learnt the most."

Indeed, for all the positives it was the dip after the summer break and through the Asian races than many remember and actually only saw Bottas finish 10th on the list of Team Principal's driver of the year poll.

"There’s always all kind of polls and stuff," he said in response. "I don’t really think about it if I‘m underrated or things like that. Really what matters is how I perform on track; how many races I will be able to win in the future.

"The main thing is within the team, that they know exactly my level of performance that they know what I‘m capable of doing."

His performance to hold off Hamilton at Yas Marina was impressive but more like that will be needed in 2018 as Bottas once again has to do enough to maintain his seat with the likes of Daniel Ricciardo and Esteban Ocon potentially lurking.

"I know that this will be up to me," he said. "We are able to race Lewis with equal machinery and equal terms, we are going to be allowed to race on the track so it’s up to me.

"If I can perform in qualifying and well in the races pace-wise and in racing situations, then I can fight for the title if we have a good car."

Daniel Ricciardo believes fans and drivers alike will soon adjust to the introduction of the Halo in 2018, comparing the visual change to major aerodynamic alterations of the last decade.

The cockpit protection device, which was forced through for next year on safety grounds by the FIA back in July, remains deeply unpopular with fans, with some even mourning the end of open-cockpit racing after the season finale in Abu Dhabi last month.

However, while acknowledging the division it has caused, the Red Bull driver doesn't think the outrage will last once everyone becomes accustomed to seeing it on the cars.

"I think there’s been very mixed feelings between drivers and within the media and among fans," Ricciardo admitted.

"It doesn’t look as nice as how the cars look now, but I think when the cars changed between 2008 and 2009 they also didn’t look very good but people got used to it and then it became normal to have the tall and narrow rear wings even though it was a very strange F1 car."

Along with the aesthetics, many have claimed the introduction of Halo is taking away the thrill associated with open-cockpit cars, but the Australian disagrees and suggested the main reason for Halo being added in the first place is being lost in the noise.

"I think people will get over Halo quite soon and it’s more to save the freak accidents and if any part of the car flies off it can stop a fatality," he said. "People forget and it’s easy when there hasn’t been one for a couple of years, people say it’s all fine and safe but every time something happens it highlights the dangers.

"It won’t change the adrenaline of the sport, the excitement, all it’s really doing is protecting us from a freak accident and the racing will still be the same. The risks we take are still the same, so I don’t see any real big change. For the fans it’s only the look they will need to adjust to but the racing shouldn’t change one bit."

Daniel Ricciardo believes he needs to re-find his qualifying form if he is to have a stronger chance of challenging for wins and the championship in 2018.

Single lap pace was always considered the strength of the Australian but this year saw him out-qualified 13-7 by Max Verstappen, the first time he had been beaten by a teammate over a full season.

What didn't help was Red Bull's own weakness on a Saturday, as a lack of special engine modes from Renault often saw them as the third best team and more generally, Ricciardo thinks his team need to be better out of the gates.

"I think to have a chance next year we need to start the season stronger," he said recently. "I think that’s where we lost a lot of our momentum, at the beginning of the season when we were too far behind Mercedes and Ferrari.

"We’ve made a lot of progress and we need to continue that momentum, which will help from a team point of view and then from my point of view I need to improve in a few areas.

"Qualifying was not up to my standard, I crashed in Australia in qualifying, in Baku in qualifying and I also made some mistakes. There were races where I was very happy but I need to keep that high level every weekend.

"It’s something I will look into over the winter and see what I can do better. I’m sure 2018 will be a more consistently strong year for myself and the team, and hopefully enough to challenge the silver guys [Mercedes].

Next year is also a critical year for the 28-year-old as he considers his F1 future in what is the last season of his current Red Bull contract. The five-time Grand Prix winner has already stated he is in no rush but, as much as the Anglo-Austrian team want to keep him, Ricciardo also has to keep proving himself worthy of a seat either at Mercedes or Ferrari as alternatives.

Ferrari Chairman Sergio Marchionne says the Italian team remains fully behind Antonio Giovinazzi despite refusals by both Haas and Sauber to take on the Italian for 2018.

After finishing runner-up to Pierre Gasly in GP2 in 2016, Giovinazzi was promoted to third driver at the Scuderia and would compete in the first two races with Sauber, after Pascal Wehrlein injured his back at the Race of Champions.

A strong impression made in Australia was undone, however, by a bad weekend in China with crashes both in qualifying and the race in tricky conditions. Later in the year, the 23-year-old would conduct a number of Friday Practice outings with Haas but the American outfit has since refused to have him back in any role next season.

"I don't think it helped us or our drivers," Team Principal Guenther Steiner told Ekstra Bladet newspaper explaining why. "I cannot say how negative it was, but it was not positive. We will see what we are doing next year, but we have not talked about it yet."

In response, Marchionne defended Giovinazzi and admitted it was disappointing not to have him alongside Charles Leclerc at Sauber after the Swiss team elected to retain Marcus Ericsson.

"Giovinazzi is a good guy, and it's just a question time. He should get his chance," he said. "He will be Ferrari's third driver and he has a programme of testing with Sauber. We understand his desire to race, but at the moment there are no vacancies.

"The agreement with Sauber is a way to find an outlet for the youngsters in our Driver Academy and it will take time to streamline this system."

Williams is hoping to move back in front of Force India in 2018 after being comprehensively beaten by the Silverstone outfit to fourth place in the Constructors' standings this season.

The Grove team had a disappointing year after a decent start when upgrades introduced at the Austrian Grand Prix dropped them down the order. From that moment, the consistent points results for Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez saw them pull clear with an eventual margin of 104 points at the end of the year.

Though results started to improve towards the end, Williams often found themselves towards the back of the midfield pack, as the likes of Renault and McLaren made gains, with the lack of significant development highlighted by Technical Director Paddy Lowe.

"We started the season with a car that was generally quicker than theirs but we've ended generally slower so we have lost ground to Force India on performance," he said of the battle between the two teams.

"We have both been developing through the season at a rate you don't see and they've done a better job, it's our job to recover that and more over the winter. We need to make a bigger step with the new car than they make."

As well as improving the car, Williams also has to consider who will line-up alongside Lance Stroll, following the retirement of Felipe Massa at the end of the season. Robert Kubica is many people's favourite while names like Pascal Wehrlein and Daniil Kvyat have also been mentioned.

Lowe admits, however, a lot will rest on the progression of Stroll, who had a slow start to his F1 career which arguably hurt the team when their car was at their strongest.

"The first half of the season, we weren't scoring the points, particularly on Lance's side, when the opportunities were presented," he commented. "With Lance new to the sport this year, it was always going to be a more difficult first half than the second half and those two factors were enough for Force India to get a stronger tally."

Former Sauber Team Principal Monisha Kaltenborn believes Pascal Wehrlein still has the ability to become Formula 1 world champion despite having lost his seat on the grid for 2018.

The young German will be replaced by Charles Leclerc at the Swiss team after only joining for 2017 as a convenience following the collapse of Manor in January. However, after being considered a future star following his strong year with the backmarker team, becoming the only driver other Jules Bianchi to score a point when he finished 10th in Austria, his stock has since fallen significantly.

Force India chose Esteban Ocon over the 2015 DTM champion to replace Nico Hulkenberg and at Sauber, the political situation, which saw Kaltenborn leave in June over disagreements with the owners, led to claims of favouritism towards Marcus Ericsson, with Wehrlein's initial good results faltering.

Nevertheless, F1's first female team boss, who knew more than anyone about the internal situation at the Hinwil-based team, believes what the 23-year-old managed, including an impressive eighth place in Spain, shouldn't be forgotten.

"I think his performance in 2017 is still not properly appreciated," Kaltenborn was quoted by F1i.com. "Without him, the team would have scored no points at all."

Though a slim chance at the Williams seat remains, where he links with Mercedes may help, it does seem as though Wehrlein won't be on the grid next year and for his former boss that would be a waste of a talent.

"I just hope that he will continue to get what he deserves in F1, which above all else is a cockpit," she said "Pascal has the potential to become world champion with the right team. Anyone who has worked with him knows that."

McLaren junior and European Formula 3 champion, Lando Norris is aiming to learn as much as possible while also compare himself to Fernando Alonso when the two team up with Phil Hanson to compete in the Daytona 24 Hours next month.

The Briton, who is also now the third driver at the British F1 team, and the double world champion will be one of the United Autosports entries at America's most famous endurance race and for Alonso, it is building experience ahead of a possible attempt at the Le Mans 24 Hours with Toyota.

For Norris, however, he admitted the chance to race alongside the Spaniard was a large part of his decision to race at Daytona as he continues his climb up the motorsport ladder.

“Obviously, I’d like to do well, but I think it’s a more of a good opportunity to learn from Fernando. I definitely don’t want to let that opportunity go to waste," he commented.

“I’ll get to know a lot more about the work ethic of an F1 driver, even though he’ll be driving a different car, he’ll still want to do as well as he can. He’ll particularly want to beat his teammates and he’ll work as hard as he can to improve the car. Wherever I can, I’ll try and take onboard everything he does."

While considering himself very much the apprentice, Norris, who impressed during his first test with McLaren in Hungary back in August, is also keen to measure his own speed against Alonso, hoping there will be some internal competition.

“I’d like to prove what I can do against him, especially in qualifying," the 17-year-old admitted. "Daytona is a team game, so I realise that we’ll be sharing the seat and working together but I’d like to think there’ll be a bit of a competition about who can do a better job in practice and qualifying.

"Whoever does the best has done the best, but it’s still a great opportunity to learn not from him."

Looking ahead to 2018, Norris will combine his third driver duties at McLaren with a full F2 campaign with the returning Carlin team. Heading into the series as European F3 champion there are high expectations and no-one is putting the pressure on more than himself.

“The aim is to win the title but I think that’s going to be quite tough," he said. "I think top three would be more realistic but I said that this year and ended up winning!

"The other day, I said if I wanted to prove I was as good as Charles Leclerc or better, then I needed to win but F2 is a much tougher category than F3, with a lot more variables.

"It’ll be tougher to win as many races as in the past but Leclerc has proved he can do it. It’s hard to say until I get to the first race but I’m confident in what the team can do."

Felipe Massa will have fond memories of driving the 2017 Williams car, claiming the design changes brought in meant they were better suited to the "proper driver".

Wider bodies and bigger tyres were introduced with the aim of reducing lap times by around five seconds compared to 2015 and the result was a number of lap records being broken throughout the year.

The negative impact was on overtaking with the number of moves made around half that achieved the season before but as an experience behind the wheel, the Brazilian was only complimentary.

"Definitely, I remember it as a nice car to drive," he said. "When you're not comparing with the best cars for sure but just driving the car is a nice feeling for the driver, in terms of g-force, in terms of physically."

It was the physical aspect that some were concerned about pre-season, with cornering speeds much higher than in recent years but for Massa, that was just part of the thrill.

"I think to do a perfect lap in this car you need to be a driver as well, to take the best out of the car in qualifying, you need to be a proper driver," he claimed. "Not like in the past when the tyres were just going away and you needed to drive like a grandmother.

"Now you need to drive like a driver and I think it's a lot to do with my driver style, so I like. It was similar to 2006, 2007, 2008, even before that. You have the car ready to accept everything so the driver really needs to risk and drive like a proper aggressive direction."

Force India's Sergio Perez agreed with Felipe's comments adding: "It's quite good. It was a pleasure to drive these kind of cars around the corners, pretty much the fastest cars of the latest generation. The speed that we do through high-speed, low-speed has been quite enjoyable, especially over one lap."

For the Mexican, however, a lot of the improvement came from a change in philosophy from tyre supplier Pirelli and he is intrigued by how a more aggressive approach for 2018, including the introduction of a new HyperSoft, will change the dynamic again.

"I think everyone seems to forget how much Pirelli did a step in terms of tyres, we are able to push a lot more on them," he commented. "We're still not flat out on them, but we did a good step. It's also something enjoyable in the races.

"It will be interesting to see with the Pirelli changes for next year how we are able to cope with the new generation of tyres."

Sebastian Vettel has revealed how he "struggled" mentally to recover from his moment of road rage during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after it cost him the victory in Baku.

In perhaps the most memorable moment of the season, the German, feeling as though he had brake tested moments earlier, would intentionally pull alongside and bang wheels with Lewis Hamilton awaiting a Safety Car restart.

For that, he would receive a 10-second stop/ go penalty for dangerous driving and it would ultimately cost him the win as the Mercedes driver had to pit the lap before to replace a loose headrest while leading.

Though it wouldn't be a championship defining moment, the sense of guilt had a profound effect on the Ferrari driver. 

"The worst feeling I had was after Baku just because I lost the race with something unnecessary. I struggled with that," he said. "You struggle generally in life a lot more with things that you messed up rather than those that got messed up for you if you see what I mean."

Certainly, for Vettel, it would be easier to come to terms with the two retirements which would decide the championship.

"Singapore, in my point of view, that's racing," the 30-year-old said of the start crash with Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen. "I thought about it a lot on Sunday night and it wasn't easy to put behind me but then what do you do? The same in Japan (after a spark plug problem forced him out the race)."

As a whole, however, the four-time world champion does think the luck balanced itself out and that made losing to Hamilton easier to take.

"I think we all want to have the perfect result every single time," he acknowledged. "There were races where we [the team] could have done better and races where I could have done better but there were also races where we should have done a lot worse and we didn't.

"Obviously some of the races get highlighted and you get a lot of praise for it. Other times you get a lot of the opposite but that's part of the game.

On missing out on the title, Vettel added: "I don't know if it's the literal translation to English, but you can't hold onto something that is not in your hands. That's a good fit and sometimes things are not in your hands and you have to move forward.

"I think the more important thing for us drivers, for us as a team, is to understand where we have been strong and where we have been weak."

Also reflecting on what was the first real head-to-head battle between himself and Sebastian for the championship, Hamilton thinks his rival's mistakes were due to an inability to maintain his composure.

"Seb showed more nerves this season than before," the Briton told Germany's Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper. "None of us are superman, and everyone can fail under extreme pressure.

"Some reached that point sooner, others later. It's like tennis. If Federer plays against Nadal, one waits for a small weakness in the other, because half a percent is enough."

In comparison, the Mercedes driver claims he faltered more when there wasn't the stress of a championship fight.

"You saw it at the end of the season," he said. "Suddenly I had no more pressure and was not very good. I compare this season with a 100-metre sprint by Usain Bolt. He often gets a bad start but then he comes back."

Renault advisor and four-time Formula 1 champion, Alain Prost has praised the performance of McLaren driver Stoffel Vandoorne, believing he is as good if not better than teammate Fernando Alonso.

The Belgian was considered as 'one to watch' after finally getting his chance at a first full season, but he would be thrust into a difficult situation at the British team as significant problems with the Honda engine meant the 25-year-old went into the year with little testing and little hope to be competitive.

That showed early on as he was outclassed by the double world champion in the early races but as the team improved, so did the former GP2 champion who began to finish more consistently and actually led the Spaniard in the Drivers' standings until three points results to end the year moved Alonso back ahead.

"Everyone watched Vandoorne because, prior to coming into F1, he was recognised as one of the most exceptional youngsters for the future," Prost stated to RTBF.

"Then he started at McLaren with reliability problems and never the same equipment as Alonso, but I think Vandoorne is now playing on the same level or even better than Alonso. He's doing his development in a perfect way," he added.

Renault does have some experience with Stoffel after he competed in the Formula Renault 2.0 and 3.5 series and now, as McLaren's engine supplier from 2018, the French legend is keen to see how he progresses.  

"Next year with a good engine, we'll see if he's efficient and reliable," Prost claimed. "Being on a team with Alonso is not easy, so Vandoorne has to stay calm, take his time, and I think there is no problem for him to be on top in years to come."