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The last free cockpits in Formula 1 will be awarded. After Valtteri Bottas has to leave Mercedes, the Finn has now found a team.
It's not official yet, but all the signs point to it: After five years, the now 32-year-old has to leave the “Silver Arrows” at the end of the season. Mercedes promotes top talent George Russell, who scored a sensational 18 points in the farce race at Spa on Sunday as runner-up in qualifying.
The world championship racing team has thus also found its driver pairing for 2022. Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton had already extended by two years in the spring and now has a young competitor in Russell, who already represented Hamilton during his corona illness last season, who convinced him at the time. Hamilton had actually campaigned for Bottas to remain. However, this wish is not fulfilled now.
Before the comeback of the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort next Sunday, it was now leaked that Bottas would remain in Formula 1. The Finn will compete for Alfa Romeo in the coming season. And there for the successor of his compatriot Kimi Raikkonen. The 2007 world champion is finally retiring after 20 years and currently 341 races in the Formula 1 circus.
This also eliminates the speculation surrounding Mick Schumacher. The son of the seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher was recently associated with a move to the Swiss racing team, but is now staying with the US team Haas. Both racing teams are supplied with Ferrari engines, Schumacher is part of the Italians' youth program.
Since Red Bull and Alpha Tauri as well as Aston Martin will compete with the same driver pairings in the coming season and will announce this shortly, one single cockpit will remain open: the seat at Williams that has become vacant as a result of the Russell change. The favorite is the Dutchman Nyck de Vries, who last won the Formula E championship.
