Valtteri Bottas has become a possible candidate for the open Mercedes seat left by the retired Nico Rosberg. Mercedes has reportedly offered Bottas the position on the team, although the team has said that no driver announcement will be made until the new year. Bottas’ departure would leave a big hole on the team that would need to be filled ASAP.
Bottas is a vital aspect of the Williams F1 Team’s 2017 campaign. With the start to the 2017 Formula One season only a few months away, a decision from Bottas to leave Williams could be catastrophic for the team’s plans to bounce back from a poor showing in 2016. The team needs an experienced driver like Bottas to aid in the car development process, since he would be able to provide more feedback than the team’s new rookie driver, Lance Stroll. The decision to leave would put the team on a major time crunch to find a replacement driver.
In exchange for Bottas, the Mercedes team has reportedly offered Williams a deal. The company will reportedly offer Williams, an engine customer of Mercedes, rates that could reduced be as much as €12 million. The team has also reportedly offered to give Pascal Wehrlein to Williams in exchange for Bottas. However, Williams are unlikely to take Wehrlein as a fulltime driver, as having two inexperienced drivers would seriously hinder the team’s performance in 2017.
This is where Felipe Massa comes into the equation. It is understood that Williams has opened negotiations with the Brazilian to extend his Formula One contract with the team for one year. This would allow the team to find an adequate driver to race alongside Stroll in 2018, while not hurting their 2017 potential. The 35 year old racing driver retired from Formula One at the end of 2016, meaning that accepting a drive with Williams would be an unexpected return.
Of course, any announcement of a driver change from Williams cannot happen until Mercedes make their driver announcement, an event which the team has admitted will not happen until early 2017.
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