BOTTAS CONFIRMED AT MERCEDES

It’s been 45 days since Nico Rosberg dropped the bombshell of his immediate retirement from Formula One. And it left the team with a conundrum: how to best fill the vacant seat alongside three-time champion Lewis Hamilton in order to defend the Constructors’ Championship?

Following six weeks of detailed evaluation, deliberation and negotiation, the answer can now be confirmed officially: we signed Valtteri Bottas this morning. The 27-year-old native of Nastola, Finland has completed four seasons in Formula One with Williams, making 77 starts and scoring 9 career podiums so far.

“Sometimes in life, unexpected circumstances provide interesting opportunities. Nico’s decision in December was a big surprise – certainly a challenging situation for the team to handle. But weathering the storm makes you more resilient and we see this as another opportunity for the team to grow,” explained Toto Wolff as he introduced the fourth driver to race for the Silver Arrows in the modern era.

“Valtteri is a no-nonsense guy: down to earth, straightforward and very focused. Pretty Finnish, to be honest, and a great fit for us. He has an impressive track record in the junior categories and nine podiums in F1. But now it’s time for the next level, to see how he can step up to challenge for race wins and for Championships. We know that we are already behind the curve in terms of preparations for the new season, so we’ve got a busy programme to get him integrated into the team. One thing is for sure: as I know Valtteri, he will give it everything.”

Valtteri was cautiously optimistic when he met his new team-mates in the factory today. “It’s very exciting times for me,” he grinned. “I think it’s going to take a while to understand that this is really happening. It’s definitely another dream come true, to race in another team with such great history – especially in the recent years, which have been so impressive. I’m really proud to become a part of that and grateful to everyone at Mercedes for trusting my skills and giving me this opportunity.

“I’ve had a really warm welcome so far. Of course, I have a lot more people to meet and new faces to remember. But initially everything has felt very good. I’m really impressed with the facilities and I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better. My first experience with Mercedes power was in F3 back in 2009 and, of course, I know the Power Unit well from the last three years with Williams. But there are a lot of new things to learn with the car and also with how the team operates at the factory, in testing and at the races.”

The scale of the challenge ahead cannot be underestimated. New aerodynamic regulations mean a reset for the entire field and there is genuine uncertainty about which team will emerge on top; Valtteri is paired with probably the most ferociously fast team-mate in the sport, Lewis Hamilton; and there are just 70 days until the red lights go out at the start of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

“We have confidence in Valtteri’s ability and it’s one of the reasons that he is the driver we set our sights on this winter,” continued Toto. “The next weeks will be busy as we work to build relationships so Valtteri understands the team and the car. But that’s an exciting challenge that will bring us fresh energy and a new dynamic between the drivers. And, of course, we’re working hard to give Lewis and Valtteri the car they need to do the job.”

Valtteri is under no illusions about the task ahead: “I’m ready to work hard, to prove myself to the team and to prove my skills. It’s going to be a challenging season and joining a new team makes it more work than normal. But I’m 100% ready for that. I’m training hard to be at my physical best because it will be much tougher with these new cars. I always set the bar really high, so my target is to perform from the first race. I’m full of energy and ready to get to work for this year and hopefully many more to come with Mercedes.”

The agreement for Valtteri to join Mercedes has not happened in isolation. With today’s announcements that Pascal Wehrlein will join Sauber for 2017, and that Felipe Massa will return to Williams, the final pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place for this year. And that has only been possible thanks to positive working relationships between all the teams involved in a complex chain of negotiations.

“On behalf of Mercedes, I must thank Williams for their cooperation in allowing Valtteri to make this move – and also Monisha and Sauber for their patience during the past weeks,” concluded Toto. “It’s been a busy day in the driver market and I am pleased to know that Pascal will be racing at Sauber to continue his development in F1. He had a good first season with Manor and we feel this is the right path for him in the sport. It’s satisfying to have both of our Young Drivers taking on new challenges in F1 this year, with Esteban also racing at Force India. We’ll be following their progress closely; I’m sure we’ve got an exciting season ahead of us.”

From Valtteri, too, there were warm words for his friends and colleagues at Williams: “I had a great seven years there, starting as a test driver in 2010. I’m very proud of what we achieved together and I leave with some very good memories. My debut in F1, my first points and nine podiums all came with the guys and girls at Grove, so I must say a big thanks to everyone and I wish them all the very best for the future.”

As Valtteri now begins a busy week of technical and physical preparations for the new season, Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport is pleased to confirm that Nico has accepted an ambassadorial role with the team for 2017.

His first commitment will be tomorrow, in Geneva, alongside former team-mate Lewis Hamilton at the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH) on behalf of team partner IWC Schaffhausen.

VILLENEUVE: SADLY F1 WENT WRONG WHEN IT LISTENED TO FANS

Never one to mince his words, Jacques Villeneuve believes that Formula 1 erred by listening to fans and as a result injecting it with artificial gimmicks which have diluted the essence of the sport.

Speaking during the Autosport show, Villeneuve declared, “Where F1 went wrong was, sadly, when it started listening to the fans, because the fans complained there was not enough overtaking.”

“By listening to that, what did F1 do? Put in DRS. Because that way we’ll have a hundred overtakes in a race. But name me one overtake you remember since DRS. You don’t, because you don’t see the driver work.”

“In a motorbike race, sometimes it takes a rider ten laps to overtake another rider. But in these ten laps you see the work that goes with it. When the overtake happens, wow. All these ten laps you’re on the edge of your seat.”

“Now you aren’t. Next straight line, press a button, overtake. That’s it. You want to see a great competition. You want boxers to really hurt each other, and see who the strongest one is.”

“You don’t want them to have big gloves so they don’t hurt themselves. That’s a bit what DRS is like – let’s not take a risk, let’s press a button. It’s like overtaking on a highway. You don’t actually see proper racing because of that. You get tons of overtaking, but it’s boring. So it defeats the purpose.”

As for costs, he opined, “F1 should be too fast and too expensive. F1 has always been extreme, pushing the boundaries. It’s supposed to be too fast, too expensive, crazy. That’s not what we have.”

“You see drivers getting out of the car without even breaking a sweat because they massaged the car the whole race and drove within eight seconds of what they did in qualifying. It’s wrong,” lamented Villeneuve who was 1997 Formula 1 World Champion.

WHAT WAS COST PER POINT EARNED FOR FORMULA 1 TEAMS IN 2016?

According to a report doing the rounds, Ferrari were the biggest spenders in Formula 1 in 2016 overtaking Mercedes as the biggest spenders at the pinnacle of the sport.

However a study of expenditure by all the teams also reveals that the smaller outfits spend far more than the grandee teams for the each point they score – with Manor’s solitary point costing them an astonishing $104-million, while Mercedes bagged each of their points for less than half a million Euros per point.

Ferrari pumped $402-million into their 2016 campaign, but all that money was not enough to earn Sebastian Vettel or Kimi Raikkonen a single victory in the 21 race season. The Maranello outfit finished third in the constructors’ championship, scoring 398 points in the process – each point costing them a $1,011,000.

In contrast Mercedes who spent $323-million on their season and won 19 races with their two drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, the latter claiming the drivers’ world championship and the pair taking the team to their team to a third consecutive constructors’ world title. The Silver Arrows scored 765 points during the course of the season, at $422,000 per point – half of what it cost Ferrari – and in the end the most cost effective campaign by any team in 2016.

Red Bull emerged as Mercedes’ biggest challengers with Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo scoring one win apiece – the only two to break Mercedes’ stranglehold on race victories – and finishing second in the constructors’ world championship. The energy drinks outfit spent approximately $262,000-million and scored 468 points in the process, working out to $560,000 per point.

McLaren were the fourth biggest spenders, with a budget of $226-million committed to their campaign. It was a podium-less season for their two world champion drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button, who together scored 76 points, at $2,976,000 per point.

Renault invested $183-million for their return as a works team, scoring 8 points during the course of the season which calculates to $22,940-million per point

Williams spent $128-million for their 138 points, at a cost of around $927,000 per point.

Toro Rosso had a budget of $122-million for their 63 points, which came in at $1,936,000 per point.

Newcomers Haas also invested around $122-million for their debut season in Formula 1, scoring 29 points at a cost of $4,1-million per point.

Despite nearly collapsing for financial reasons, before being rescued, Sauber still managed to spend $115-million on their campaign in which they scored 2 points, at $57,3-million per point.

Force India tackled the 2016 season campaign with a relatively modest $109,4-million, but managed to get Sergio Perez on the podium on two occasions as they finished fourth in the constructors’ championship with 173 points in the bag, at a cost of $632,800 per point.

Manor scored one point during the course of the season, with a budget of $104-million at their disposal. (Note: €1.00 equals $1.04)

TO SAUBER DEAL IS SIGNED

Numerous sources are reporting that Sauber are set to confirm Pascal Wehrlein as driver for the team in 2017 with only the paperwork set to be formalised, to team up with Marcus Ericsson.

This all but confirms that Mercedes have struck a deal with Valtteri Bottas to replace their retired World Champion Nico Rosberg, while closing the door on the Swiss team’s Brazilian driver Felipe Nasr who appears to have run out of funding for a race seat.

Wehrlein emerged as a front runner for a drive with Mercedes immediately after Rosberg’s shock decision, but the team’s management felt he was not experienced enough to be thrust in the hot-seat alongside Lewis Hamilton in the sport’s dominant team.

They also wanted to avoid the rookie going head-to-head with the triple world champion in a scenario akin to the volatile pairing of Hamilton and Fernando Alonso at McLaren in 2007.

Wehrlein’s departure from Manor, where he impressed in his rookie season, means that the Mercedes powered back-marker team still has two drives available, but also suggests that Mercedes have more confidence in Sauber providing their junior driver a platform to perform than their own customer team.

Sauber will be powered by year old Ferrari power units in 2017.

The Swiss team have been contacted for comment.