Mercedes to keep Bottas onboard for 2021!

Valtteri Bottas will reportedly remain with the mighty Mercedes squad next season, the Finn extending his collaboration with the German outfit for a fifth season.

A report from Motorsport.com alleges that terms have been agreed in principle between Bottas and Mercedes, although the definitive contract has yet to be signed by both parties.

Bottas hit the ground running in Austria, winning the opening round of the 2020 F1 season and finishing runner-up to teammate Lewis Hamilton in yesterday's Styrian Grand Prix, also held at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.

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The 30-year-old eight-time Grand Prix winner heads to Hungary as the leader of the drivers' championship with 43 points, with Hamilton sitting in second place with 37 points.

During the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Mercedes chief executive Ola Kallenius suggested that both Bottas and Hamilton would renew their contracts with the championship winning team.

"We'll stay with our two boys," he told Sky Germany at the time.

There was recent speculation about Hamilton driving a hard bargain with Mercedes in terms of his retainer for next season and the coming years, but team boss Toto Wolff rubbished the hearsay, insisting that money had not been discussed between the sic-time world champion and his team.

"We haven’t had a single conversation about money," Wolff said during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.

"Lewis is very aware of the financial realities of the auto industry and about Formula 1, and in the same way, I’m very respectful of his achievements and his class.

"Therefore it’s going to lead to I think a satisfactory outcome for all of us."

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