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Valtteri Bottas admits that he does not know when he will begin talks over his 2018 drive, as the Finn is signed to Mercedes on a one-year deal. Earlier in the week, team boss at the Silver Arrows Toto Wolff said he recognised that the situation is uncomfortable for Bottas.
Bottas signed for Mercedes at the start of the year, replacing Nico Rosberg who unexpectedly announced his retirement from the sport after winning his first ever world title in 2016. Bottas has since taken his first pole position and victory in Formula 1 in his first seven races for the team.
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With the 2018 market wide open, Mercedes is keeping all of its options open. Big names such as Fernando Alonso, Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz are out of contract, so Bottas understands that there is no rush into signing a new deal.
"I don't know when I will know," Bottas said. "The timeline is quite flexible, but there's no rush really, for sure discussions will be opened soon because as a driver at some point it's always nice to know what you're going to do next year.
"But [there's] not more than that to say really, it's still a bit early days for that. For sure I'm keen to have a long-term relationship with Mercedes, that's my target, that's why every day I work hard and try to make the most out of every single situation and race weekend."
It feels normal
Bottas also went on to say that he feels normal over the situation, due to past experiences with Williams, when he was held on a year-to-year contract with the Grove-based team.
"I feel normal because every single year in Formula 1 for me I've always had the same situation," he said. "I've had no idea at this point [in previous years] what's going to be next year, so for me it's a normal situation."
Fergal Walsh
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C. Sainz jr
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f1fan0101
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He should be okay, hes doing a decent job and is very calm alongside Hamilton