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Claire Williams, the Deputy Team Principal of Williams, has admitted that she always expected Mercedes' interest in Valtteri Bottas as soon as Nico Rosberg announced his retirement in December. The Finn joins the Silver Arrows for 2017 after four seasons at Grove, where he made his F1 debut in 2013.
In an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live in the UK, Williams says that she can see exactly why Mercedes rated Bottas as an ideal replacement for world champion Rosberg, and a worthy team-mate to Lewis Hamilton.
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Of the period immediately following Rosberg's retirement, Williams said: "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. 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."
Williams then went on to speak about Bottas' nature out of the car, praising him as an easy-going and professional character and implying that he is unlikely to cause issues at Mercedes as the Hamilton-Rosberg partnership did.
"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...someone 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."
Mason Hawker
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