Williams technical chief Pat Symonds has said his team must do all it can to retain Valtteri Bottas for 2017.
The Finn is currently the prime target for Mercedes to replace the retired Nico Rosberg for next season and it is understood a first offer has already been rejected.
Speculation is suggesting an improved bid to tempt the British team into letting their driver go is being readied, including a deal that will include Paddy Lowe making the move from Brackley to Grove.
While that may interest Williams, who will likely lose Symonds to retirement when his current contract expires, the veteran of the Formula One paddock is reiterating the importance of Bottas to the team’s 2017 plans.
“We will have Lance Stroll making his debut, with no F1 experience, so holding on to Bottas will be crucial for our success,” he was quoted by ESPN. “Losing him would have a big impact on the team.”
Symonds explained that with all the rule changes coming for next season, continuity in the team is more important than ever and having already lost Felipe Massa, who himself retired at the end of last season, maintaining Bottas is a key part to maximising the opportunity those new rules bring.
“The driver is the final link you need between the engineers and the data,” he said.
“You can replace one of them, but you need the other as a reference, especially in a season with the amount of rule changes 2017 will have.”
For Williams, Bottas is very much of a known quantity having now spent four seasons with the team. Therefore, when Symonds talks about the correlation between the drivers, the engineers and the data produced, the team have a history as to how the numbers produced in the wind tunnel and the simulator often compare to when Valtteri hits the racetrack.
But with Stroll, they will have to first teach him about the data collected and then they will need to adapt to the way he drives and understand the telemetry data he then produces.
Until they do that, which could take a few races into the season, it will be hard to know where to focus on car upgrades and improving the overall setup.
That is why Symonds is keen to ensure Williams don’t lose the Finn and it’s also why Mercedes would need a very good offer to tempt any team to release a driver from their contract at this stage of the year.
