F1 News
Bottas may have to make way for Russell soon: "Everything can be arranged"
- GPblog.com
The rumours had already been circulating for a while, and were further fuelled on Monday by various media outlets reporting that Valtteri Bottas will have to relinquish his seat at Mercedes to George Russell. Also RTL now reports that the decision has already been taken, and that Russell is fully aware of it.
Bottas' contract with the German racing team expires after 2021. However, according to the latest reports he does not have to expect a contract extension. The decision was a long time coming, especially since Russell's contract at Williams also expires after 2021. In all likelihood Mercedes does not want to lose him to a competing team and the young talent cannot be kept on a short leash any longer.
Williams team boss does not deny that Bottas and Russell will be swapped as early as 2021
Given the poor results that Bottas has shown this year, rumours of a mid-season driver switch are growing stronger and stronger, despite this being firmly denied by both Mercedes and Bottas himself. Remarkably, Williams team boss Jost Capito does not deny this. "We have a valid contract with George, but you know we can arrange everything if necessary. I have a good relationship with Toto," he says. He does add that he assumes Russell will stay until the end of 2021.
According to RTL, talks between Bottas and Toto Wolff will take place during the race weekend in France and a final decision will be made after the second race in Austria, which takes place on Sunday July 4. This would give the Finnish driver enough time to find a new seat.