No reason Bottas should leave

Editor

Toto Wolff feels there is no plausible reason for Valtteri Bottas to want to leave Williams given their current level of form.

This year's silly season has been largely dominated by speculation that Bottas is set to walk away from Williams at the end of this year in favour of a move to Ferrari.

But given that Williams are currently one of the leading teams, behind only Mercedes and Ferrari in the standings, Wolff sees no reason why his former driver would want to swap teams.

"It makes sense for Williams, which has invested in him and taken the risk when he was young, and has not got value from him – to get that by selling him to another team," the Mercedes motorsport boss, who was previously with Williams, told Gazzetta dello Sport.

"He's a great guy who could be an asset to any team but Williams is the third force of this championship and aspire to reach the podium at every race.

"I cannot see any reason why he should leave."

Williams head Belgium third in the standings on 155 points while Bottas is fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 77 points and a podium, which he achieved in Canada.