Mercedes Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas suffered a heavy shunt during the final part of qualifying in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix earlier today.After an aggressive use of the kerbs down at turn one, the Finn sent his Mercedes W09 spinning around and smashing itself into the wall at the exit of turn 2, totally destroying the rear end of the car and potentially hurting his race chances massively.Bottas had been fairly close to Hamilton during the weekend and was looking to get at least a front row starting position for the race.But, exiting the first corner, he abused the kerbs, spun round, and went rear first into the barriers, completely wrecking the car.Thankfully he got out of the car alright and wasn't hampered by the Halo, exiting the W09 fairly rapidly with the marshal's then able to shift the wrecked car out of the way quickly to allow qualifying to get underway once again.The accident will not help Bottas' chances for a contract in 2019, however.The Finn was given an extension on his 2017 contract for this year by Mercedes, but the world champions are keeping their options open for 2019, with Red Bull duo Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo probably at the top of their shopping list should they elect to dispense with Bottas' services come the end of this year.

If the Finn, though, who won three Grands Prix and took four pole positions last year, performs to his best and is a title contender for the season, Mercedes will more than likely renew his contract once again and perhaps longer term this time.

It would be unfair to judge Bottas off this one accident, particularly as it's the first time the drivers have really let it rip since Abu Dhabi last year, but he will be keen to put right this wrong come the race on Sunday and at the next event of the year, to make sure this accident his put to bed very quickly indeed.