At Mercedes, it was decided not to exclude Valtteri Bottas from the internal affairs of the fold, although the Finn driver will leave Mercedes at the end of the year. Toto Wolff was grateful to him.
Valtteri Bottas is reluctant to advertise with Mercedes, leaving the team at the end of the year and continuing his career in the colors of Alfa Romeo. In the last three races, he scored the most points, cementing his third place in the singles world championship and also his first race win this year, which was also a precious success for his team.
Bottas has changed teams with the help of his team boss, Toto Wolff, so it’s no ordinary driving, plus next year the cars will have to be built according to completely new rules, so almost no improvements will be carried over from the existing cars. This also helps Mercedes to decide
For the rest of the season, as usual, Bottas will not be left out of the squad.
“Valtteri is as much a member of our team as anyone and we fully involve him in everything,” said Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes chief racing engineer. “The world championships mean a lot to us, and Valtteri will play a key role in the singles points race, just as he does in the constructors’ championship, so it is unreasonable to isolate him from any information.”
“He’s been with us for a long time. You know how the team works and how we deal with technical issues with the car. “From our point of view, it doesn’t make sense not to involve him completely,” the British expert said at the weekend at the Turkish Grand Prix.
The Finn pilot said earlier that he was ready to help the team and Lewis Hamilton Also in winning world titles. In Turkey, improving his form came in handy as the British rider was only able to climb to fifth from the 11th cube after a starting penalty, while Bottas with his win prevented Max Verstappen from leaving Istanbul with as many points as possible.
“I think in a normal, dry race, fifth place would have been the best,” said Wolff. – Later, with the information available to us, it might have been possible to reach the third place. It’s a 5 point swing, but we had to leave so it was a weekend saver. Thanks to Heaven, Valtteri was there, won the race and also got an extra point for the fastest lap.”
