Valtteri Bottas insists Williams cannot afford to continue the sort of mistakes which jeopardised his Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next season.

Bottas had started sixth but his race fell apart on lap nine when the Williams driver was released into the path of McLaren's Jenson Button after his first pit stop, destroying the Finn's front wing and earning a five-second penalty. To add insult to injury Bottas had to complete an entire lap with a damaged nose before pitting for a replacement.

Bottas, who recovered to finish behind Button in 13th, said there was nothing he could do to avoid the McLaren once he was released from the pits.

"I got the green light from the team to go, so I went on the right hand side of the pit lane," Bottas said. "Obviously our side view, from the cockpit, is very limited and before I realised it there was a McLaren pulling into its box and it was too late to avoid it. Then I had to come in the next lap for a new front wing and that ruined my race."

Bottas thinks Williams needs to cut out similar errors if it wants to make a step forward in 2016 and challenge Mercedes and Ferrari for race victories.

"If we want to win we have to raise our game in all areas. Today the pace wasn't there, and we need to make big gains over the winter if we want to fight with Ferrari and Mercedes again. And we also need to minimise the number of mistakes like the ones we did today -- that's a fact."