{"id":19850,"date":"2013-11-12T06:57:03","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T11:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/?p=19850"},"modified":"2013-11-12T06:57:03","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T11:57:03","slug":"bottas-knew-about-2014-deal-for-some-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/formula-1\/bottas-knew-about-2014-deal-for-some-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Bottas knew about 2014 deal for some time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Valtteri Bottas has admitted he knew for some time in advance that he will be staying at Williams beyond 2013.<\/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 Finn made a solid formula one debut with the beleaguered British team this year, but he is the only driver outside F1&#8217;s two bottom teams yet to score even a single point.<\/p>\n<p>Nonetheless, the 24-year-old said he is happy to have retained the &#8220;trust&#8221; of the key people at Grove, notably father-and-daughter bosses Sir Frank and Claire Williams.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are looking forward to giving him the equipment he deserves to show just how good he is,&#8221; said Claire on Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The news about Bottas&#8217; new &#8216;multi-year&#8217; contract has been held up while the negotiations with Felipe Massa, and the departing Pastor Maldonado&#8217;s lucrative backers PDVSA, took place.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For me it has been difficult because I have known (about the new deal) for some time,&#8221; Bottas smiled to the Finnish broadcaster MTV3 when the news finally broke.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The guys in the team assured me long ago, but they only wanted to make it public when both drivers were sure,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Bottas said his main problem in 2013 has been Williams&#8217; struggling car, but Monday&#8217;s news has given him a boost of confidence.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is a much more secure feeling knowing you are going on,&#8221; he admitted.\u00a0 &#8220;I know I will be a better driver next year than I was this year.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Bottas, 24, said he is also looking forward to sharing a garage with Massa.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Felipe has so much experience, and don&#8217;t forget how fast he is,&#8221; he said.\u00a0 &#8220;He was almost the world champion (in 2008), and in the last races he has been comparing very well against Fernando Alonso.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;With the big rule changes, experience can be a big help,&#8221; Bottas continued.\u00a0 &#8220;He has driven a number of different cars and for sure he has seen a variety of problems.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think it&#8217;s a very good thing for us,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #888888;\"><em>\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Valtteri Bottas has admitted he knew for some time in advance that he will be staying at Williams beyond 2013. The Finn made a solid formula one debut with the beleaguered British team this year, but he is the only driver outside F1&#8217;s two bottom teams yet to score even a single point. Nonetheless, the &#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":[434,5262,130,5340,538,595],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19850"}],"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=19850"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19851,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19850\/revisions\/19851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}