{"id":18520,"date":"2013-06-13T07:06:06","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T11:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/?p=18520"},"modified":"2013-06-13T07:06:06","modified_gmt":"2013-06-13T11:06:06","slug":"bottas-hopeful-of-williams-contract-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/formula-1\/bottas-hopeful-of-williams-contract-extension\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottas hopeful of Williams contract extension"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Williams disappointed ranks of Finnish journalists this week by failing to announce the extension of rookie Valtteri Bottas&#8217; contract.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"ngg-singlepic ngg-left alignright\" style=\"margin: 5px 10px;\" alt=\"Valtteri-Bottas-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/gallery\/f1-2013-rif-images\/f1-2013-drivers\/Valtteri-Bottas-1.jpg\" width=\"384\" height=\"256\" \/>The reporters were summoned to Helsinki for a press conference, to be attended by the 23-year-old as well as his F1 team boss, Sir Frank Williams.<\/p>\n<p>Surely, the journalists thought, it will be announced that Bottas&#8217; contract will be extended to include 2014, particularly after deputy boss Claire Williams said the Oxfordshire based team is &#8220;convinced we have a future world champion on our hands&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>However, no announcement was made.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about Claire Williams&#8217; comments, Bottas told the broadcaster MTV3: &#8220;Sure, that sounds good!\u00a0 It (staying at Williams) would be great, so let&#8217;s hope so.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said he is not worried about the forthcoming contract negotiations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no point thinking about it too much,&#8221; said Bottas.\u00a0 &#8220;The best thing I can do is focus on the racing and do my best.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Williams has struggled for pace in the early phase of Bottas&#8217; career, but the young Finn has shown well alongside teammate Pastor Maldonado, and last Saturday he qualified third in the wet conditions in Montreal.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think Canada was good for me in that I was able to show my skills,&#8221; he said.\u00a0 &#8220;It is not so easy to see what you are doing when you are fifteenth.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Hopefully I have shown that I really deserve my place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Sir Frank Williams admitted he is happy with Bottas.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Valtteri is a wonderful young man,&#8221; said the 71-year-old in Helsinki, according to Turun Sanomat newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He is very popular and cooperative within the team, and he absorbs himself in everything he sees and hears.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He doesn&#8217;t talk much, but that&#8217;s because he listens,&#8221; Williams beamed.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><em>\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Williams disappointed ranks of Finnish journalists this week by failing to announce the extension of rookie Valtteri Bottas&#8217; contract. The reporters were summoned to Helsinki for a press conference, to be attended by the 23-year-old as well as his F1 team boss, Sir Frank Williams. Surely, the journalists thought, it will be announced that Bottas&#8217; &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[434,5262,5340,541,538,595],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18520"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18520"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18520\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18521,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18520\/revisions\/18521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}