Valtteri Bottas not revealing if his future is at Williams or Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas says he “believes in the future of Williams” but has fallen short of committing his own to the team.

Reports surfaced in the Italian press last week that Ferrari had reached a financial settlement with Williams to release the 25-year-old from the final year of his contract. But Sky sources have insisted that even if a deal between the two teams has been agreed, talks have yet to open between Bottas' representatives and the Scuderia.

“There’s nothing new to tell,” he told reporters ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian GP. “There is nothing confirmed. As a driver you want things sorted out as quickly as possible but sometimes you need to wait.”

Williams are currently locked in a close fight with Ferrari to be regarded as ‘best of the rest’ behind Mercedes on the grid and they out-paced the Scuderia at Silverstone three weeks ago, leaving some to question whether Bottas might, in fact, be better off staying where he is.

The Finn's affinity to the Grove outfit which presented him with his F1 debut is clear; but his guarded refusal to offer any sort of assurance he will stay on will only fuel speculation he will be dressed in red next season.

“Everyone at Williams was hoping for a step this year but the performance has been more or less the same as last year," said Bottas. "We wanted better but the competition is tough. Next year’s car could be a step forward but it is too early to say.

“I believe in the future of Williams. It is a good team which has been up the top many times. But as I’ve said I have not had confirmation l will be part of that or not.”

While Bottas may be keeping his options open, team-mate Felipe Massa is adamant he will be at Williams again next year after reports surfaced last week that his seat was in doubt.

“Nothing has changed at the moment so I don’t see why I shouldn’t be there," the Brazilian said.

"I really enjoy working with the team, the team is really respecting me 100 per cent and I think enjoying the way I work with the team as well. I see that the team is growing and getting stronger most of the time.

“But what people wrote a few days ago…I don’t think this guy has the right information, I think he just put it in the paper. I believe I will drive for Williams next year, but I think maybe the chance that this guy is correct, the risk is bigger than him being correct.”

Williams’ dallying before permitting Bottas to challenge Massa during the British GP was widely considered to be a strategic own-goal which had the potential to cost them victory had the rain not fallen to reveal the aerodynamic shortcomings of their FW37 car.

“Could have, should have, we can always say it could have been better, but in the end it was a weekend when we learnt a lot," Bottas said. "Generally we’ve been allowed to race since Malaysia last year but this was a special opportunity as we were first and second – where we haven’t been for a while. In the future, we will be cleverer.”

Bottas was belatedly told he could challenge Massa for the lead of the race but says the call came too late.

“I had an opportunity at the beginning and it was at that point when l wasn’t allowed to overtake,” he explained. “In that first stint my pace was quite a bit better. As we saw in Felipe’s in-lap l gained nearly one second. The timing in these things can be critical; when l got the call that we could race l didn’t have that advantage anymore.”

To the presumable disconcert of his prospective employers, Bottas’ form has been modest in recent months. He has been out-qualified by the veteran Massa at three of the last four races while the British GP concluded with Bottas crossing the line almost half a minute behind Massa, a deficit that the Finn attributed to a stint-wrecking mistake after pitting for intermediate tyres.

“I went wide immediately at Turn Three and I couldn’t get the temperature of the tyres up afterwards. And when you lose it, it’s very difficult to get it back. Once you don’t have the tyre temperature, you don’t have the confidence, you don’t have the speed and you don’t have the energy to put into the tyres.”