After much gossip since the Rosberg retirement towards the middle of December, Valtteri Bottas started to make his way to the front of the queue at Mercedes. Cars247 reported the news that Mercedes were in talks with Williams about bringing the Finn to the silver arrows. Today, Mercedes and Bottas put pen to paper on the 2017 seat.
At the time Bottas made his way to the front of the queue we argued that a Hamilton – Bottas partnership was best for a team who wanted less headaches. Less Ego. After all, F1 is a team sport. Toto Wolff expressed a new ‘team dynamic’ will now be in place. The answer to the signing could be as simple as Bottas understands the Merc controls coming from a Williams car with the same setup. 50 page documents on steering wheel controls is genuine. Whilst we joke, there may be some truth in the fact Bottas does have the advantage of familiarity with the car. He is also close to team boss Toto Wolff.
Whilst its not the fairytale line-up perhaps we all wanted this signing will act as a benchmark for us to find out just how fast Lewis Hamilton is. After all can you name a team-mate who head to head has been able to live with LH? In his career Bottas has never been outscored by a team-mate over a season. Over to you Valtteri.
Bottas will debut for the silver arrows testing in Barcelona next month.
