By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief
Valtteri Bottas has been retained by Mercedes for the 2020 Formula 1 season.
The 30-year-old Finn currently has earned five victories and 10 pole positions since joining the German outfit in 2017. Additionally, he sits second in the championship standings.
“I am very happy and proud to be part of the team for a fourth season and wish to thank every team member and the board of Mercedes for their trust and belief in me,” Bottas said. “My performances have been getting better and better each year, and this is a great way to kick start the second half of 2019.
“My overall target is to become Formula One world champion. I believe that on paper, and from my experience with the team, Mercedes is the best option for me to achieve that goal in 2020.
“We have nine races to go this season and I am determined to keep improving at every one of them. Now, all my thoughts are on Spa and delivering a strong performance with the team this weekend.”
By exercising the contract option on Bottas, Mercedes return with the same driver lineup which currently has them 150 points ahead in the constructor’s standings.
Toto Wolff, team principal of Mercedes, expressed his excitement in returning Bottas and seeing the progressive growth.
“For 2019, we set Valtteri the challenge of coming back even stronger than we saw him in the first part of 2018 – and he has achieved that, with some really impressive performances in the early races this year,” Wolff said.
“Although it has been his most successful first half of a championship so far, he is hungry for more and determined to keep on improving and raising his level. That’s the mindset we want from all our team members. The results we have achieved together with Valtteri are no coincidence: he has been an integral part of our championship success in the past two seasons, his teamwork with Lewis has been exemplary and he has shown real strength of character in how he has responded to setbacks.
“I’m delighted that he will stay with the team for another season at least – and look forward to seeing him raise the bar even further.”
