Bottas to explore other options if Mercedes decides to oust him
Jul.4 - Valtteri Bottas says he will explore "other options" if Mercedes decides to oust him for 2022 and beyond.
On Saturday, the reigning champions announced that Lewis Hamilton has signed a new contract for 2022 and 2023, reportedly on the full financial terms of his pre-covid deals.
Bottas' future, however, remains in the balance.
"When we signed the (Hamilton) contract, we asked Valtteri what he thought about us announcing it now," team boss Toto Wolff said in Austria.
"He answered in the Finnish way - 'I don't give a sh*t. He really said it like that," Wolff told the Austrian broadcaster ORF.
"So that's why we put it out straight away."
Wolff said the decision between Bottas or George Russell will only be made "in the next few weeks or maybe months".
If Bottas is ousted, F1's rumour mill is pointing towards a return to Williams for the 31-year-old, or perhaps even Alfa Romeo.
"I love racing and I love Formula 1," said Bottas.
"If I cannot stay with Mercedes, then of course I will explore other options. But that's not something I have to worry about now.
"I have a good management team, and they haven't told me anything so far. I don't know if they've already contacted anyone because they know how important it is for me to focus on the current moment."
However, he said the time for negotiations is coming "soon".
"I don't know what day or what week, but yes we will have to look at all the options and the situation as a whole," said Bottas.
"It just dawned on me that it is already July, so I'm sure we will discuss it soon even if it is not today or tomorrow."
It is a big decision for Wolff, because Bottas is Hamilton's preferred partner. However, the highly-promising Russell is becoming quietly impatient for a promotion which would be welcomed by many in the paddock.
"Of course we talk about it a lot internally," Wolff admitted.
"But today it is mainly about Lewis. We will see what happens with the second seat in the coming weeks."
Wolff said Hamilton's wishes will be listened to, but insisted that the seven time world champion wants above all else "a reliable teammate who challenges him".
"For Lewis it's not so important who is in the other car," he added.
"In the summer, we will negotiate with Valtteri and George and then make a decision. Hopefully this will happen before the end of the season."
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"In the summer, we will negotiate with Valtteri and George and then make a decision. Hopefully this will happen before the end of the season."
What does this mean? Whoever will work for the least money gets the drive? Shouldn't the choice of a driver be made before the negotiation stage?
exactly, make th offer to the one you want , then if that's not acceptable , go for your 2nd choice , that's what employers do choosing between two candidates, not play them off against each other with mind games
I think Toto , he probably answered in the most pissed off way he could come on Toto, you've messed the guy about all year , how else was he gonna react , and on MB lewis was poor again today .... hed better win at SS , or its Gordijn for lewis ,which as any good f1 knows, means its curtains for lewis in Dutch .
Good timing on learning Dutch. LOL
gotta get with Ror , its the language of champions lol
Very European of you shroppy the language of champions for years to come
I believe you are both a bit off in your description of a current negotiation. A short list of candidates is selected, followed by one (or more) discussions with the candidates to gauge suitability, organizational fit, etc. A leading candidate emerges with whom compensation and performance expectations are negotiated after the offer. Failure to reach agreement means moving on to candidate #2.
Wolff would seem to be following this approach.
Brian, you might be correct re Toto's meaning. There are five collaborative stages of the negotiation process: Prepare, Information Exchange, Bargain, Conclude, Execute. Perhaps he is referring to the information exchange stage. It seems that all parties already have the necessary information re suitability, organizational fit, etc.to determine if they are a mutual fit and he should have identified a leading candidate. If that is true, that would put them at the next three stages and preclude his simultaneously 'negotiating' with both drivers. I might be misunderstanding his comment, but that's my take. As Shrop' says, "playing them against each other with mind games". Again, I might misunderstand his comment.
Stop using big words guys , its giving me a headache , hard enough learning a new language lol , we are all correct in some way, for me the relevance is hes the current manager of one and the ex manager of the other, so no need for all the business world stuff type ..
he knows what both can do, and what both want, so hes just gotta decide who he wants in the car for 22/23 .After asking Lewis of course lol
Emmm at the end of the day Bottas isn't good enough it's that simple. He's had his chance and this as to be his last season, provides absolutely no back up and will never be a future champion.
you can make your own luck, but sometimes things not within your control affect performance and results , re Monaco for VB and GR crashing into him in Italy , both not his fault , had these not happened VB would be undoubtedly 2nd or 3rd in the wdc, Is the bot bashing unfair ? well if you take these two events into consideration then yes, the isnt good enough comment? , whats that mean ? isn't good enough to be a No 2 at MB, well previous wdc championships say he has been , and , lets take this race, he didn't damage his car ? and was there to back up Lewis and grab valuable points for the CC when Lewis messed up .
I dont think im twisting facts as other people do on this forum , what dyo think f1?
not good enough but still finished well in front of hamas.hey hey
Oh please, Bottas was struggling to stop a Williams from overtaking him. ShoddyPost if you don't understand the comment about Bottas not being good enough just look at his results over the years, 2019 for instance 90 points difference, 2020 120 points, Hamilton even had covid that year, these are facts. To rub salt into the wound, Russel had him licked in his first ever race for Mercedes, it was embarrassing for Bottas.
I see mmm, so hes only a good number 2 if he finishes how many points behind the wdc , 10 40, 90, ? youd be happy if he was just 1 point behind i suppose lol, 2nd is 2nd thats when the constructor bonuses are given out , Soooooo theres no bad luck in F1 interesting comment, was pretty bad for VB in Monaco id say lol
I wont argue with you Jax .
"I wont argue with you Jax "
Hey, I think you've figured this out. Can't be two of them. LOL Oh, sorry about the big words. Brian made a good point about MB's BOT/RUS dilemma and I was attempting to respond in kind. A bit over the top.....or under the bottom, I can do both with equally poor results.
Thought id just slip that in there , seemed the right thing to do lol...., i think Brian must be in HR or whatever the correct terminology is these day , Brian enlighten us ..¬
Not HR, but it’s hiring a senior exec in the context of the corporate strategy, so I stick with my earlier process, and don’t disagree with RoR’ description of a further downstream process.
Inclined to think its a given that GR will be the man. 2 British racers is great marketing, 2 expiring contracts, and VB, while seemingly a really nice guy, just isn’t doing enough as a driver (or SVP) to merit renewal.
Brian, your process is spot on. IMO, perhaps what you are missing is that racing drivers are not senior executives, they are kids with sufficient talent to race at the highest level. Team owner process: he/she is the fastest driver, is manageable and will add value to the team. Let's rock. However, in Toto's case he must consider whether #2 will get along with Sir Lewis. Tough decision. What's irritating is spewing BS and trying to use head games with the kids.
If its not important who is in the 2nd car to LH as this report , why did his previous remarks say hed prefer VB? , if he doesn't care he should say so like Max has a few times .
If I were Bottas, I would clean my locker out at the end of the year and go to Cart or somewhere else where the competition isn't so stiff. Hes in the same car as Hamilton. He should be finishing close behind in 3/4 of the races. Hes not doing that. I was a big fan for a while. But he is disappointing.
Ham will be sh###### himself if VB leaves & his new teammate can give him some proper competition "don`t care who my teammate is" that´s Ham bullshit!
exactly he full of it
exactly he full of it