Wolff: 'Spending years with Hamilton could put pressure on Bottas'

Valtteri Bottas will leave Mercedes at the end of 2021 after being repeatedly given a one-year contract by the German team for five seasons. Team boss Toto Wolff reveals why the Finn never got a multi-year deal from Mercedes.

Finally a multi-year deal for Bottas

It is the first time for Bottas to go into a Formula One season with a multi-year deal. The current Mercedes driver was told this year that Mercedes will continue with George Russell alongside Lewis Hamilton from 2022 and Bottas signed a multi-year deal with Alfa Romeo.

Bottas has felt constant performance pressure through the one-year deals from before, something Wolff says is not necessarily a bad thing: "I said to Valtteri that pressure is good and sometimes it can hurt. I think he's been working on it since the beginning of his career, because he never had enough resources to compete," Wolff said according to the Brazilian branch of Motorsport.com.

Pressure from Hamilton?

"That said, would a multi-year contract have been better? Looking back you can always have a different opinion. I still think he's a great guy and a fast driver, but I also think spending years with Lewis can put a lot of pressure on him," Wolff concludes.

Since Bottas signed the contract with Alfa Romeo, the Finn seems to be feeling better about himself. He continues to outperform Sergio Perez in the battle for third place in the drivers' standings and was able to win very dominantly in Turkey.