Bottas in “no rush” to agree new Mercedes F1 2022 deal

Valtteri Bottas says he’s in “no rush” to agree a new Formula 1 deal with Mercedes as he’d rather focus on trying to win this year’s championship.

Bottas enters his fifth season with Mercedes having helped it claim four consecutive constructors’ championships. 

The 31-year-old has yet to mount a serious title challenge since joining Mercedes in 2017 but has been Lewis Hamilton's nearest challenger in the last two seasons.

The Finn is out of contract at the end of the season and with highly-rated Mercedes junior George Russell waiting in the wings, 2021 could prove to be his final year with the team.

Speaking about his future following the launch of Mercedes W12 last week, Bottas said: “I am honestly in no rush with that. I kind of get it if a team has the opportunity for the big change coming in 2022 to have an option to choose both of their drivers. It’s good for the team. Honestly from my side, no rush really.

“Just full gas for the season and trying to get to my goals, and eventually, it will be a talking point. Not quite yet.”

When asked if he’d consider moving to a different team to potentially have a weaker teammate alongside him, Bottas added: “That’s a bit too far from the radar of the time I am thinking about at the moment.

“I am really, as I said earlier, just thinking about this year and I shouldn’t waste any thoughts yet about those kinds of things. As I said, just full focus on this year, trying to reach my goal as I described then we will see.”

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff says Bottas’ future with the team “is within his own hands”.

“We have seen fantastic performances over the last few years, just not stability throughout the season,” Wolff said. “And Valtteri is always going to have unconditional support from the team, that is not going to change in 2021 either, in order to perform as good as he can.

“And he knows it is within his own hands to influence the future.”