Valtteri Bottas has revealed that his teammate and 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton told him directly that he wants him to stay at Mercedes. Bottas is out of contract at the end of the season and with budding Mercedes driver George Russell who has been dubbed by many a potential future world champion waiting in the wings at the beleaguered Williams team, many believe that Bottas will be shown the door for young blood.
"Unfortunately, there is nothing to say," Bottas told Finland's MTV Sport of his Mercedes future, as quoted by RacingNews365.com.
"It remains to be seen what happens. I don't think there will be any news in the near future, but yes, those things will be clear in time. Everything is going in the right direction. I can't say who we're going to talk to and what's going on, but things are being discussed so that we can find the best option for next season. Lewis has told me quite directly that he would like me to be his teammate," Bottas revealed.
"Together we can do very well. The fact is, drivers can't make a terrible impact on it. Yes, there's a bigger machine behind it that ultimately makes those decisions," Bottas added.
Valtteri Bottas could be leaving Mercedes at the end of this year
Photo Credit: AFP
Publicly, Hamilton has called Bottas the best teammate he's had in his F1 career. Hamilton's career which has spanned 14 years had some frosty situations with teammates most famously with Fernando Alonso at McLaren when he made his debut in 2007 and then with Nico Rosberg between 2013 and 2016.
Bottas has been a rather obedient teammate and well is also less gifted, so much so that now for five years in a row hasn't been able to match the British great in the same machinery. Bottas has been good enough to use the Mercedes advantage to always be second best to Hamilton ensuring a dominating spell but as the pack has closed, Bottas has been frequently left behind cars by other teams which is why Mercedes may choose to put a younger and superior driver even if it would risk disrupting the dynamic with Hamilton.
Russell picked up a puncture at Bahrain but later in the race he recovered to finish at P9, behind Bottas
And that driver is George Russell who replaced Lewis Hamilton in Bahrain when he was infected with COVID19. During the race, Russell drove Hamilton's car and overtook Bottas at the start and dominated the race until a massive goof up at the pitstop while double stacking the cars hobbled the race of both the drivers. Russell was still competitive and was on track again to take the race win but then a tyre puncture ruined his race.
Toto Wolff has said that he is still contemplating whom to choose but the choice will be basically between Russell who has been a Mercedes backed junior driver and Bottas. In the case Bottas were to leave Mercedes, Wolff has said it is his responsibility to get him a drive in F1. There are potential openings at Alfa Romeo with many expecting Kimi Raikkonen to retire at the end of the year and Williams which will lose Russell and a plain switch could be possible with Bottas returning to his former team.
