Ball in Mercedes' court over future – Bottas

Valtteri Bottas says the ball is firmly in Mercedes' court regarding his future, but insists there is no rush to begin talks about a contract extension yet.

The Finn was brought in as a replacement for Nico Rosberg after the reigning champion's shock retirement at the end of last year, but was only given a one-year deal at the time. Having won two races so far and currently sitting just 23 points off the championship lead, Bottas has impressed at his new team but told RACER he is comfortable with the uncertainty at present.

"For sure as a driver it's always nice to know as soon as you can, but I understand completely about this world and this system, so nothing happens like this," Bottas said. "There's still no rush with anything. I feel good that if I keep performing and developing like I have been doing then I see a good chance for me to stay here.

"But it's still early. I need to keep doing 100 percent and then we'll see. Basically the ball is in their court, I want to have a long relationship with the team."

Asked by RACER if he has a point in mind where he would approach the team to try and get a steer on his future, Bottas insists such a scenario is still a long way off.

"I haven't set a certain date in my calendar that 'this is the point!', but for sure at least by the end of the season would be good to know. I don't want to go into that too much because all that is still ahead. We'll see."

Following his impressive recovery drive from ninth to second at Silverstone on Sunday, Bottas added he would expect talks to start during the mid-season break following the Hungarian Grand Prix.

"First we need to really speak about it before doing any announcement or make contracts. We are coming to the point where we are getting to the middle of the season and the August break will be here soon and normally discussions will start. You are not going to hear anything for the next few weeks for sure.

"Like I said before the main target is for me to have a long relationship with the team, that is what I want. We will still have to wait a few more weeks and see how things go, but that is my target."