Mercedes says it will handle Valtteri Bottas’ future in a “better way” next year, with the Finn conceding that mid-season speculation became “a pain in the ass”.
Bottas joined Mercedes in 2017 and has been on one-year extensions ever since, and Mercedes’ 2020 seat became a primary talking point prior to the summer break.
Mercedes publicly revealed that it was weighing up whether to retain Bottas or promote reserve driver and long-term protégé Esteban Ocon to partner Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas was ultimately given the nod during the summer break, with Ocon joining Renault for 2020, but in the two events prior to the decision being made his form waned.
Bottas’ title deficit to Hamilton swelled from 37 to 62 points after his crashed out in Germany and came only eighth in Hungary off the back of a messy opening lap.
Since then Bottas has beaten Hamilton to the chequered flag at three of the eight races, with the pair each taking two victories.
“There was definitively uncertainty for 2020, at some point there were lots of rumours and I had no idea what was going to happen and I just had to wait,” said Bottas.
“For sure, as an athlete, as a driver, it’s not the ideal situation, you cannot be completely in piece of mind to focus on the job and feel mentally free, so to be in the right place is tricky.
“When that continues year after year, every single year of your career, at some point it becomes a pain in the ass, so it was definitively nice to get the contract signed.
“But it’s going to be same story next year, it’s just I’m not too worried at this point because the pace is good, I enjoy the driving, I enjoy working with the team and I hope they appreciate that. That’s all.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff conceded that “with Valtteri, there is a better way to deal with that” in 2020.
“Now, in retrospect, you can say it probably had an effect. And I will try to consider that and make a better job in that respect.”
Wolff also suspects that “the driver carousel [for 2021] is going to start very soon” as “no drivers are contracted to any team.”
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