For a few days now, Finnish media have been buzzing with rumors about a connection, and even a pre-contract, established between Ferrari and Valtteri Bottas for the 2016 season.<\/p>\n
Sebastian Vettel having committed long-term with Scuderia, Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen’s position would therefore be threatened for the next season. The Finnish driver’s contract expires at the end of the current season, and the 35-year-old must convince his managers on the track to succeed in keeping his place, as Arrivabene confirmed to our German colleagues at Sport Bild<\/i>: If he continues like this, we will extend his contract for an additional year. But performance is not the only criterion. I also like the way he works with Sebastian [Vettel]. Sometimes, they even travel together. All of this will influence our decision.<\/p>\n
But if Arrivabene had to replace R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen, he would not do it with Lewis Hamilton, as a rumor suggests, and would instead choose a promising young driver: \u00ab Why would I need Lewis Hamilton when I have a heavyweight like Vettel? I would rather look for a talented young driver to pair with Sebastian. \u00bb<\/p>\n
Here is something to further fuel the Bottas rumor in the event of a Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen departure. However, it is still much too early to make a decision, as confirmed by the Italian manager: \u00ab I promised during the offseason that I would not lie to the media. But it is really too early to provide an answer to this question. \u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maurizio Arrivabene stated that it was still too early to make a choice regarding Ferrari’s driver duo for 2016. While Lewis Hamilton does not seem to be on the list of contenders, the door remains open for a potential arrival of Valtteri Bottas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":38869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1749],"tags":[364,777,1647],"class_list":["post-13425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f1","category-news","tag-ferrari","tag-raikkonen","tag-bottas"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n