Bottas will try to make most of chance in Macao

It would be great to see Finland represented again in Formula 1 - but not by Kimi Rikknen. Much more appealing is the 22-year-old who should also be the favorite to win this weekend's Formula 3 Grand Prix of Macao - but might find himself hindered by F1's regulations.

Valtteri Bottas won this year's GP3 Series (very similar to F3 but with races on F1 support program). Last November in Macao he was the quickest Mercedes-powered driver around the famous street circuit - visibly and audibly so in the mountain section. Unfortunately, those with Volkswagen engines seemed to have an advantage on the track's long straight past the casinos on the sea-front.

This year the motors are closer, but Bottas will likely miss the first practice session on Thursday having landed only in the morning from F1's "young driver training" in Abu Dhabi. With testing in F1 prohibited between the first race of the season and the end of the year, the three-day event was the only opportunity for the Williams team to evaluate Bottas - who has been the team's test driver since 2010. With the teams already at the circuit for last weekend's Grand Prix, it is certainly cost effective to have a test session in this way. But there's a knock-on effect for aspiring F1 drivers.