Valterri Bottas’ contract with Mercedes comes to an end in two months. The Brixworth based team still wants him to contribute before he leaves for Alfa Romeo.
Whenever a driver is set to leave for another team at the end of the season, the common practice involves leaving out the driver from meetings regarding development for next year’s car.
The driver’s isolation is so that they may not carry the pertinent information regarding the team’s plans to their new team after spending five years with Mercedes.
It is safe to presume that Bottas is already up to date with everything concerning the 2022 car, considering that he may have already played a considerable part in developing it.
Also read: Toto Wolff expects Mercedes dominance in 2022
Despite everything, Mercedes Director of Trackside Engineering Andrew Shovlin has no plans to cut out the Finn from any discussions regarding the 2022 car.
“Valtteri is a team member as much as any one of us is, and we’re completely involving him in everything,”
– Andrew Shovlin, Mercedes Director of Trackside Engineering
Shovlin further elaborated how Mercedes still needed Bottas’ full co-operation to secure the Constructor’s Championship and assist Lewis in the battle against Verstappen.
“Both these championships mean a lot to us, and Valtteri will play a really key role in the Drivers’ as much as even in the Constructors’ Championship, so there’s no sense in starting to cut him out of any information.”
He also reasoned that given the long time Valterri has been with the team, it does not make sense to cut him out of any process. “He knows how the team works. He knows how we approach the engineering of the car,” concluded Shovlin.
Bottas finally ended his win drought by winning the Turkish GP and keeping Redbull’s Max Verstappen behind for the entirety of the race.
A happy Valtteri Bottas is a good Bottas
Ever since the news of Valterri joining Alfa Romeo from next season onwards has become public, the Finn has been breathing a bit easier than before. Even his performance has seen somewhat of an improvement compared to before the announcement.
Also read: Valtteri Bottas keen to jump on the Alfa Romeo ship and be their captain next season.
Looking at the numbers, it is ironic that Bottas has scored more points than Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have scored after the announcement.
After this season, Bottas’ experience at Mercedes will help him build the Alfa Romeo team around him. Bottas signed a Multi-year deal with the Sauber team after legendary driver Kimi Raikönnen announced his retirement earlier this year.
