Formula 1: Valtteri Bottas already out at Mercedes after 2021?

Valtteri Bottas discussed the rumor that he has already been informed that he won’t be back with Mercedes for the 2022 Formula 1 season.

Six races into the 2021 Formula 1 season, rumors are already heating up about next year’s driver lineup, and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas has found himself as one of the focal points.

Bottas is in his fifth season competing for the Silver Arrows, and he is driving for the team on a fifth consecutive one-year deal. There is speculation about the future of the 31-year-old Finn every year, but Mercedes have always brought him back up until this point.

However, this year things seem a bit different.

Given how well Williams driver George Russell performed, specifically compared to Bottas, when called upon to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes for last year’s Sakhir Grand Prix at Bahrain International Circuit in a car that left him with banged-up knees and bloody knuckles since he really didn’t fit in it, there are rumors that Russell will be replacing Bottas after 2021.

Russell, a Mercedes junior driver, is in the third year of a three-year deal with Williams, and he is keen to land a competitive ride as soon as possible.

Additionally, Bottas has had a very poor start to the 2021 season, something that has only further heated up this silly season speculation. He only sits in sixth place in the driver standings with three point-scoring efforts in six races. Worst of all, he was notably involved in a massive accident with Russell at Imola back in April.

In a season during which Mercedes are actually being challenged by Red Bull for both the driver championship and the constructor championship, they need Bottas to perform at a high level now more than ever.

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Through four seasons with the team, Bottas has always been a solid second driver, a driver who could perform well and bring home good points finishes for the team to aid them in their constructor title pursuits while Hamilton did what he needed to do to secure the driver titles.

Now trailing Red Bull in both title battles, Mercedes need him to be more than just a solid second driver, and he hasn’t even managed to be that, having yet to finish a single race inside the top two this year.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen leads the driver standings ahead of Hamilton in second place, and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who delivered Red Bull their first non-Verstappen win in three years in Baku, sits in third, giving Red Bull an edge in the constructor standings.

Between Perez and Bottas in the driver standings are McLaren’s Lando Norris in fourth place and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in fifth, two drivers Bottas should easily be ahead of.

So he sits behind drivers from four different teams through six races. To put that in perspective, in 2019 and 2020, he finished behind only Hamilton.

All of this has led to reports of Bottas having already been informed that he won’t be back at Mercedes in 2022, a scenario that seems quite feasible with Russell waiting in the wings. However, he refuted those reports, stating the following.

"“I can’t confirm that. At least no one has told me that so that is not true. That is speculation and I am sure there are all kinds of speculation that is not based on any facts. People are trying to make up stories just for the clicks. That is how it goes.”"

The seventh race on the 2021 Formula 1 schedule is the French Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place at Circuit Paul Ricard this Sunday, June 20. This race is set to be broadcast live on ESPN beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET.