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Key sponsor follows Bottas to Mercedes

One of Valtteri Bottas' personal sponsors is to follow the Finn as he moves from Williams to Mercedes in time for the 2017 Formula One world championship.

Finnish industrial conglomerate Wirhuri was a prominent brand on last year's Williams, but it was confirmed on Friday that the company has now agreed a new team partnership deal with Mercedes with immediate effect.

As a result of the new deal, Wihuri branding will feature on driver racesuits and helmets of both Bottas and his new team mate Lewis Hamilton, as well as on the team's trackside uniform.

"We are delighted to welcome Wihuri to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport family today," said Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. "As a respected brand both in Finland and globally, Wihuri will be a valuable addition to our team and we look forward to working with them and helping to expand their Formula One experience.

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The Wihuri Group has been involved in Formula One for a number of years and in motorsport sponsorship from the 1970s. Based in Helsinki, Finland, the Group employs over 5000 people and operates in 30 countries, specialising in packaging, daily goods wholesale, technical trade and aviation.

"This year will be a new challenge for our team, with a new driver line-up, including our new Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas of course, and new regulations," Wolff continued. "I am sure it going to be a very exciting year to be involved with our team and the sport of Formula One."

"We have been supporting Valtteri Bottas for several years now and it's great to see him get the chance to show what he can do at Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport," added Juha Hellgren, Wihuri's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"He has a real chance to compete for the Formula One World Championship and I am confident that our partnership with the Mercedes team will be a success story for both sides.

"We are really looking forward to the success of both Valtteri and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport in 2017."

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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.