“No rush but no distractions” - Bottas on Mercedes F1 contract talks
Valtteri Bottas says there is no need to be impatient over securing a new contract for the 2021 F1 World Championship even if he admits the nature of the compacted season means negotiations will require some haste.
Though the Finn’s future at Mercedes had looked threatened by the unexpected availability of Sebastian Vettel, it is understood the German firm has now shifted away from this option.
Since then Bottas’ position has been strengthened by a number of teams firming up their line-ups for 2021, though Mercedes junior George Russell admits talks have been ongoing over where he stands in the title-winning team’s future plans.
Following his formidable lights-to-flag victory last weekend, Bottas admits he doesn’t want the contract talks to become a distraction given the busy back-to-back races though he remains otherwise relaxed about his situation.
“I really hope [they don’t distract], but it’s a pretty special season, starting so late, so the timings are not relevant compared to other seasons. We’ve only done one race, so, on one hand, there’s no rush.
“Also, time will fly by quickly and before we know it, it’s going to be the end of the season, so I hope soon we can do something with that and get it out of my mind.
“As we’ve seen, if things drag on it’s never beneficial, we’ve learned from that and we’ll be taking actions based on what I’ve learned.”
Bottas was loosely linked to a Renault deal during the prolonged off-season but with Fernando Alonso completing that line-up for next year, the Finn options would be limited otherwise. However, he says he is focused on his immediate task of consolidating his strong start to the season.
“We’re on a triple header, so I really want to focus on the performance and that I can maximize the results and we can do the same as a team. That’s really the main point at the moment.
“Maybe after the first few races, when we’ll at least have one weekend off, maybe there can be time for some talks. For me the season started pretty well, so I should not overthink things or stress about things. I should just keep my performance up and I’m sure we can sort something.”
