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Massa offered £5m for Williams return - report

Felipe Massa has been offered £5million to return to Williams next season as a replacement for Valtteri Bottas, according to a report.

Having originally retired from F1 at the end of last season, Massa's name emerged as a candidate to return to the grid following Mercedes' approach for Bottas. Williams wants an experienced driver in its team for 2017 alongside rookie Lance Stroll, and deputy team principal Claire Williams named Massa as the type of driver the team would need if it allowed Bottas to leave.

Brazil's Grande Premio claims Massa has now had a formal offer made to him which equates to £5m, with the 35-year-old having been identified due to his knowledge of the team and ability to satisfy sponsors. Williams title sponsor Martini is understood to not be able to market two drivers under the age of 25, ruling out a young team-mate for the 18-year-old Stroll.

Massa has now departed on holiday for the Christmas period - posting a somewhat cryptic tweet on his departure - and an announcement about his future is not expected until after the New Year.

Mercedes has already stated it will not be making any announcements regarding next year's driver line-up until January 3 at the earliest.

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.