Valtteri Bottas is convinced he can follow in the footsteps of Mika Haikkinen and Kimi Raikkonen and become the next Finnish Formula One world champion.

In a car second only to the dominant Mercedes, at the German Grand Prix Bottas became the first Williams driver for 11 years to clinch three successive podium finishes.

The 24-year-old certainly showed a cool head and nerves of steel in Germany as he came under attack from a charging Lewis Hamilton over the closing laps to clinch second place behind Nico Rosberg.

Williams’ head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley last week said Bottas was “a great driver… who could become an exceptional driver”, with the team “lucky” to have him.

As to how Bottas takes that step up, he said: “In Formula One it’s never easy. The level is really high. There are so many great drivers, a number of world champions on the grid, so trying to be the best is not easy, but that’s the goal.

“What you need to do to achieve that is to keep learning, developing, and hopefully I’ve a long career ahead of me, so time to improve as a driver.

“That’s the target, like it has always been, race by race. You just need to try and keep improving in all areas.

“My main aim is to be world champion. It’s always been. Nothing less is enough. Williams is a team definitely going the right way. It’s the goal for all of us together to be world champions, and it would be really great to achieve that with them.”