Bottas has "no reason to leave" Williams - Wolff
Valtteri Bottas has no reason to leave Williams while it is delivering its current competitive form in Formula 1, claims Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff.
Having invested in Bottas' career as he moved up to F1, Wolff has a keen interest in the Finn's development – especially now that he is central to the driver market for 2016.
But amid speculation of a chance of Bottas switching to Ferrari, if the Italian team decides to buy him out of his Williams contract, Wolff thinks that staying put is actually a more logical option.
“He is a good guy who can be tempting for many – but Williams are the third force in the championship, and they aim to be on the podium at every race, so there is no reason to leave,” Wolff told Gazzetta dello Sport.
Delivering value
It is understood that Ferrari has sounded out Williams about the cost of extracting Bottas from his deal at the team.
Williams has an option on Bottas for next year which, if it takes up, leave him unable to move elsewhere without its permission for 2016.
Wolff says he fully understands why Williams would be tempted to sell Bottas on – especially with his market value so high right now.
“It makes sense for Williams, which has invested in him and taken the risk when he was young, and has not got value from him – to get that by selling him to another team,” he said.
However, no deal is believed to have been done between Ferrari and Williams - and Ferrari has not yet decided if it wants to keep Kimi Raikkonen next year.
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