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Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has vowed to look into the way Valtteri Bottas’ contract uncertainty affects his mid-season performance while revealing that for 2021 the German team have no driver under contract.
Bottas replaced Nico Rosberg for the 2017 season, on a one-year deal. Subsequently, he was also signed one season at a time for 2018, 2019 and now 2020. He admits the constant uncertainty affects him.
“There were a lot of rumours. I had no idea what was going on,” Bottas said of this season, when it was rumoured throughout that Esteban Ocon might take his place.
“As an athlete and a driver, that is certainly not ideal. There was no peace of mind to focus completely on my work, and the situation will be similar again next year. At the moment I’m not too worried because my pace is good and I enjoy driving,” he is quoted by Sport.de.
However, Mercedes boss Wolff has acknowledged the way the uncertainty affects Bottas, “Apparently it has an influence on him so I will try to take that into account and do my job better.”
“In 2021, all the doors are open: none of our drivers have contracts with the team, so it will be a very interesting situation,” he added.
The 2021 season coincides with the coming of age of the new F1 rules package.
