Mercedes Confirm Valtteri Bottas as Hamilton’s Teammate for 2020

Finnish Mercedes fans will be delighted to learn that Valtteri Bottas will not be going anywhere for 2020. In other words, the German outfit will field him alongside Lewis Hamilton next season. The 30-year old has been enjoying a particularly strong season in 2019, with a couple of wins under his belt.

Initially, there was a lot of speculation around whether Valtteri Bottas would keep his seat for the coming year. To alleviate the minds of the fans, Mercedes confirmed ahead of the summer break that a decision between him and Esteban Ocon would come at the end of August.

Now, Mercedes have delivered on that promise, and it looks like Ocon may either stick around as the reserve for another year, or go seat hunting for 2019. If rumours are correct, then, Ocon may be headed in Renault’s direction to honour their ‘gentleman’s agreement’. In turn, Nico Hulkenberg may move to Haas F1, while Romain Grosjean will be left on the lurch.

Coming back to Valtteri Bottas, he is currently 2nd in the 2019 Formula One championship. However, he is slowly getting caught by Max Verstappen, who is seven points adrift and in the form of his life. With this new contract under his belt, Valtteri Bottas will certainly tackle the Spa Francorchamps circuit with some new-found confidence.

So far, Bottas has been awfully consistent, with the exception of the last two races in Germany and Hungary. Otherwise, he has not finished lower than 4th, and picked up podiums in the other races, including his two wins.

One thing is for sure, the Finnish driver will be eager to prove that Mercedes’ faith in him is not unfounded. He is certainly more than capable of making Lewis Hamilton stay on his toes, and will be Motivated to secure 2nd in the championship.