Bottas scoffs at eight million euro salary claim

©Mercedes AMG Petronas

New Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has dismissed reports that he's set to earn eight million euros this season.

Bottas was a late-notice replacement for Nico Rosberg, who abruptly retired from Formula One just five days after clinching the 2016 Formula one world championship.

With almost all leading drivers already signed up for 2017 it left Mercedes with few options for who to bring in as Rosberg's replacement alongside Lewis Hamilton. Bottas' former team Williams drove a hard bargain before releasing the Finn, and Bottas himself would have had similarly a strong hand in salary negotiations.

Having previously been earning three million euros at Williams, it's been reported that the 27-year-old has nearly tripled that with his move to Brackley which would mean he now earns more than compatriot Kimi Raikkonen does at Ferrari.

"I don't know where those numbers come from and I don't like talking about it," Bottas told the Finnish news agency Suomen Tietotoimisto.

"It's not public information though," he added. "It is just the usual speculation."

'I called Toto the day Rosberg retired!' reveals Bottas

However, Bottas is on a one-year-only deal, with speculation that Mercedes see him as a 'stop gap' for this season before Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso become free agents in 2018. Some reports have said that Bottas only has four races to impress his new bosses if he wants to secure a longer deal.

"I have not been told of any schedule," Bottas responded. "Of course the team expects good results from me, and I have to deliver.

"Many people think this is a risk for my career, but I see it exactly the other way around. For me it's just a ridiculously good opportunity," he added.

"Nico has already showed that it is possible to beat Lewis. Of course he is a triple world champion and I haven't won any races, but I don't see any reason why we can't be evenly matched."

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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.