Williams deputy Principal, Claire Williams has spoken about the team letting Valtteri Bottas move to Mercedes for the upcoming 2017 Formula One World Championship and how it all came about.
In an interview with the BBC, the daughter of team owner Sir Frank Williams, revealed how she knew that Mercedes team boss would be gunning for her driver as soon as he heard the news that 2016 champion Nico Rosberg had opted to retire rather than defend his title….
"It wasn't the easiest time over the Christmas break. As soon as Nico made that announcement, I knew my phone was going to flash up with Toto's name and he would come for Valtteri,” she said. "There's a reason for that and that is because Valtteri is a fantastic talent. He's the all-round package and I'd like to think that we obviously played a part in developing that talent.”
"So much of a great racing driver is latent talent and Valtteri really has that. One of the great things about Valtteri is the fact that he is such a great team player. He is very apolitical and I think as a team boss you always want someone like that in your lineup...that isn't going to cause problems, that's just going to get in the cockpit and when they put their visor down they just go for it. But they always have the team and the team's best interest in the back of their mind as much as their own."
Valtteri will get his first of the Mercedes when he takes to the Barcelona Circuit next week for the first official test of the 2017 season.
