Formula One driver Valtteri Bottas skated with the Melbourne Mustangs and Melbourne Ice of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) yesterday, ahead of this weekend 2017 Formula 1^® Rolex Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.

The Finnish driver skated alongside Mustangs’ Captain Sean Jones and the Ice’s Jason Baclig at the O’Brian Group Arena. The group took part in a friendly game, and practiced a number of shooting and passing drills.

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The Melbourne hockey community was thrilled to welcome the Flying Finn, who is a passionate ice hockey fan. Ice hockey is considered a national sport in his home country of Finland with their National Men’s team is ranked third in the world.

“I’m a big fan of ice hockey myself, said Bottas.

“I played when I was younger, I played for 10 years and I still follow the sport very closely, It’s nice to see there’s a tiny bit of hockey culture in Australia.”

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In an interview rinkside, Bottas felt he was ‘quicker on the track’ though he certainly made an impression with local Melbourne players.

“He was surprisingly good, despite borrowed equipment and skates that were a couple of sizes too big”, said Mustangs’s Captain Sean Jones.

The Australian Grand Prix will be Bottas’ first race with his new Mercedes AMG Petronas team. Bottas signed with the team during the offseason, filling the seat left by retiring World Drivers' Championship Nico Rosberg.

INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY IN AUSTRALIA THIS MARCH

For local hockey fans, international ice hockey is set to return to Melbourne in March, when the Melbourne Ice and Melbourne Mustang host the New Zealand Ice Blacks on 24 and 25 of March at the O’Brien Group Arena.

The friendly Trans-Tasman series is a warm up for all teams, with the New Zealand Black Caps preparing for their 2017 IIHF World Championship campaign (Division II Group B), which is being held in Auckland this year. While and both Melbourne teams are preparing for upcoming 2017 AHIL Season, which gets under way on 22 April.