Valteri Bottas had options if Mercedes chose Esteban Ocon

Valtteri Bottas

Bottas had options if Mercedes chose Ocon

Within F1 or another series?

Martin Macdonald

Thursday 29 August 2019 16:21

Valtteri Bottas has revealed that he had a contingency plan in place for his career if Mercedes chose Esteban Ocon ahead of him for the 2020 F1 season.

The Finn is on a rolling contract with the Silver Arrows and once again did not know heading into the summer break where his future lay. However, on Thursday they announced that they would be taking him on for another season at least alongside Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas may have won two races this season, but that is six less than Hamilton, with both of the victories coming months ago at the start of the campaign.

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With the gap to the Brit being sizeable in the drivers’ championship and with Max Verstappen closing in from third, there was speculation that he could be dropped by Mercedes. However, he insists he had options on the table if that happened.

"To be honest, going into the summer break once you've not signed and you know anything can happen,” Bottas said in the Belgian Grand Prix drivers’ press conference.

“There's many different things the team look at but it was open between me and Esteban so I had to wait until last weekend.

"I had other options just in case so I was trying to make a plan and then things started to go the right way so it was better for me to commit and I'm very happy to know about the future and I don't need to worry about that anymore."

However, when pressed later in the press conference as to whether he spoke to other F1 teams, Bottas refused to give specific examples, saying he had to maintain trust between himself and the other parties involved in the discussions.

“Unfortunately, I can’t really say much. That kind of question is very private,” he responded.

“All the conversations - I’d never say the name of the team or the person I was talking to because I want to keep the trust.

“Basically, I was waiting for Mercedes to decide and still knowing other things were possible.

“But, everything turned out good. I’m happy and the team is happy."

Shortly after Bottas was confirmed by Mercedes, Ocon was announced as Renault's new driver for 2020, replacing Nico Hulkenberg.