After a strong start to the 2019 Formula 1 season which sees him currently leading his team mate Lewis Hamilton in the drivers championship, Valtteri Bottas is hoping it will mean a deal to extend his contract with Mercedes can be swiftly agreed.
While Hamilton has been locked in to lucrative multi-year contracts to remain at Brackley, Bottas has only been signed to a series of one-year deals. It means that his future with the team is only assured up until the end of the current season.
But with his best start to the year so far since joining the Silver Arrows at the start of 2017, the Finn is hoping that the team will want to lock him in for the whole of 2020 without delay.
“The talks will come when they come," he told Sky Sports F1 last week. "And when they start I hope they will be done with soon rather than dragging on."
However Bottas admitted that there had been no discussions with team management about the future so far, despite the fact that he's currently leading the drivers championship by a single point from Hamilton.
“We haven’t talked a single word about next year yet, because there’s no need to," he explained. “When that’s going to happen, I hope that we can agree quickly.
"It’s all good," he insisted. “I haven’t thought about it, at all.
"We’re focusing on our job," the 29-year-old continued. “I’m just really focused on this moment right now, fighting for every single victory and for this championship."
Bottas kicked off the current season with victory in the season opener in Melbourne. He also picked up a bonus point for setting the fastest lap in the race, a new innovation for 2019.
After victories for Hamilton in Bahrain and Shanghai, Bottas was successful again in Baku. With two wins apiece so far, it's that bonus point that has ended up giving Bottas the lead in the drivers standings.
It might be a small margin, but it's giving the Finn the psychological edge at this early stage of the campaign.
“Definitely the good results [have given me] confidence, with everything I’m doing," he confirmed. “It gives guidance that I’m doing something right.”
It's a far cry from last season when he went winless for the entire season, leading many pundits to predict that he would be ousted from Mercedes at the end of 2019 in favour of Esteban Ocon.
That threat appears to have given Bottas extra incentive to some additional inner steel underneath his unflappable exterior. And it might mean Ocon's plans for next season are on hold with Bottas looking increasingly secure.
“I think this year has been different from last year,” he told Brazil's Globo this week. “I have been more direct, and perhaps even more aggressive.
"There were big developments there from my side," he added.
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