Valtteri Bottas has Finnish sponsor Wihuri to thank for his plum drive this year with Mercedes, says team boss Toto Wolff.
Wolff said that had Wihuri not switched its support from Williams to Mercedes, Bottas would probably not be racing a Silver Arrows this season, let alone have achieved his first Grand Prix win.
"Yes, without it we would have put Pascal Wehrlein with Lewis Hamilton," Wolff is quoted by the Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat.
"Antti Aarnio-Wihuri made it possible for us to move Valtteri to us," he added.
"Valtteri certainly has other very important partners, such as Kemppi, but Antti enabled this agreement with Mercedes," Wolff revealed.
So it appears that even the top teams require a bit of incentive to take on a driver.
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