Claire Williams says Mercedes is “very lucky” to have Valtteri Bottas after praising the Finn’s qualities in the wake of his move from Williams.
Bottas spent seven years with Williams, four in a race seat, and was set to remain with the team into 2017, before Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement opened a vacancy alongside Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.
Mercedes last week confirmed that it had recruited Bottas from Williams, with the Grove-based team bringing Felipe Massa out of his short-lived retirement on a one-year deal.
“Valtteri’s obviously been a big part of Williams,” she said in a video message on the team’s social media pages.
“He started his Formula 1 career with us as our development driver in 2010, he was quickly promoted up through test driver and reserve driver and then took a race seat in 2013.
“He’s been an integral part of this team’s development across the past three years, he’s taken us to many podiums, secured many points for the constructors’ championship for us, in 2014 and 2015 helped drive this team to third in the constructors’.
“He’s played such an important role, but equally looking at the performance Valtteri brings to the team, he’s always a great person, very much a team player.
“He knows the importance of embedding himself into a team and building relationships with engineers, also on the marketing side of things.
“He understands what you need to do to be a holistic F1 driver in the sport today, Mercedes [is] very lucky to have him, our loss is their gain so to speak.”
