Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas could swap teams at the end of the season, with the young Canadian likely to be preferred to George Russell by Sir Lewis Hamilton.
That’s according to 1997 F1 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve, who believes Stroll could fill Bottas’ shoes at Mercedes and be a strong second driver without disrupting the inter-team harmony at the Silver Arrows.
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“For me he [Bottas] could move to Aston Martin in place of Lance Stroll, who would go to Mercedes,” Villeneuve said this week.
“Stroll senior’s dream, very close to Toto Wolff, is to see his son winning Championships. And Toto needs a place for Valtteri.
“For sure Hamilton doesn’t like Russell as a team-mate. Better someone like Bottas, who doesn’t bother him,” he added.
Others have speculated that Russell and Bottas could swap seats at the end of the season, with the Finnish driver returning to Williams and Russell finally landing a Mercedes seat.
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Last month, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said it is his “duty” to help Bottas find a seat in Formula 1 if they decide to axe him.
“If there is a situation where we want to give someone else a chance, it’s not just about my relationship with him [Bottas],” Wolff said.
“It is my duty [for him] to have a great future because he deserves it.
“He has been a team-mate of the best F1 driver in history and it is not always easy to shine in [that environment]. But he has been fantastic,” he added.
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