While fans sit back patiently and await official confirmation from Mercedes that Valtteri Bottas has joined their driver line up for the 2017 Formula One Championship season, it now appears as if that may not be the case after all.
With Nico Rosberg retiring just days after claiming his first ever world title in November last year, the Brackley based squad was left without a teammate for Lewis Hamilton. With top drivers already firmly sewn up in water tight contracts, they soon found themselves with very limited options.
Approaching Williams with a 5 million pound offer for Bottas' services, the team rejected it due to needing an experienced driver alongside their new rookie signing, Lance Stroll.
It then emerged that Williams would let Bottas go, if the price was right and if Felipe Massa would bench his retirement plans and return to race for them again in 2017, to take Bottas' place at the head of the team.
However, if tweets to both Renault and Force India can be believed, it seems as if a deal to get Bottas to Mercedes has failed to materialize….
"Don't suppose you've got any other drivers kicking about anywhere? We're kinda short on numbers right now…" Mercedes tweeted to both teams.
Meanwhile, Bottas is busy getting himself in shape for the coming season….
"Yesterday started the first training camp of 2017 and loving it," the Finn tweeted.
Hopefully we should hear soon just who the world championship winning team has secured to fill Rosberg's seat in 2017.
