Bottas not concerned about Mercedes future

Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has said he is not concerned with the fact he has not yet signed a contract to drive for the team next year. The Finn was initially signed on to Williams on a rushed one year deal after Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement.

Bottas has performed relatively well compared to his highly esteemed three-time world champion teammate, Lewis Hamilton, even securing his first ever win at the Russian Grand Prix. His overall record is slightly inferior to Hamilton’s but is generally considered to be doing well enough to provide able back-up for Hamilton to help him in his world championship bid.

There is the small complication of Fernando Alonso however. The Spaniard is clearly fed up with McLaren’s lack of a competitive car and he has been sniffing around the paddock for a competitive drive for next season. With the second Mercedes seat not officially wrapped up yet Alonso has been attempting to maneuver himself into the seat ahead of Bottas.

He had been previously told by Toto Wolff before the Baku race he was not ready to be resigned by the team quite yet, but after an impressive recovery drive from a lap down to take second place he is surely getting closer to securing the seat for next year.

"I did not sign anything after this race!" he revealed. "Of course I always want to drive well and prove that I deserve to drive for this team. I hope that Baku was a perfect example, But as Toto says, there is no rush and it's still early. I'm happy with the way things are. As I already said on Thursday, in my formula one career I've never had any certainty about the future until August or September. Sometimes even January! So it's not new for me."

Sam Gale