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“It has been dragging on and I think everyone wants to know, probably more who is going to be Lewis’ team-mate next year, and of course whenever Nico made his announcement we knew the call was probably going to come from Toto,” Williams told Sky Sports News HQ.

“It is a great opportunity for Valtteri and he has given a lot to Williams. We’ve always said if we can make this happen on terms that are positive for Williams then it is probably the right thing to do.

“No-one needs or wants a driver in your team that really wants to be somewhere else. It is not nice either to stop a driver who has such a great opportunity, particularly at this point of Valtteri’s career, but it has to work for Williams and that is what we’ve been working hard on over the past six weeks.

“We are nearly there, we are at the tail end of it and hopefully we’ll be able to make an announcement this coming week.

“But it has to be right for Williams, whatever we do will always be the right decision for Williams no matter what other people’s opinions might be.”

“Felipe’s heart has always been in our sport,” the deputy team principal added.

“Everyone said that about him when he joined us, ‘surely his time in F1 is over, he petered out at the end of his years at Ferrari’, but he came to Williams and it seemed to be a great culture for him and he was a new driver.

“I don’t think he necessarily wanted to leave the sport and he did say he wanted to continue racing. These guys have been racing since they were six years old and it is in their DNA, that is what they do.

“If Felipe was to come back I don’t believe there would be any lack of competitive spirit within him. We also wouldn’t bring a driver who we had any concerns over his ability to do the job for us.”

“For us the two are separate. We obviously need a technical director now that Pat Symonds has departed the team that will come in and put us back to where our ambitions lie at Williams and that is to win races and world championships,” she said.

“Of course someone like Paddy now that he is available is going to be appealing to us. He has driven that team to three world championship titles in three consecutive years. Of course he would be someone who has at the top of his list, he would be a fantastic addition. He started his career at Williams and what team wouldn’t want someone like Paddy Lowe.”

WILLIAMS MARTINI RACING is pleased to confirm that Felipe Massa has agreed to re-join Williams on a one-year deal, coming out of retirement to replace Valtteri Bottas who the team has released to join Mercedes for the 2017 season.

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Claire Williams, Deputy Team Principal, said; “I’m delighted that Felipe has agreed to come out of retirement to be a part of our 2017 campaign. With Valtteri having a unique opportunity to join the current Constructors’ Champions, we have been working hard to ensure that an agreement could be made with Mercedes to give Valtteri this fantastic opportunity.

“Valtteri has been part of the Williams family since 2010 and in that time has proved a huge talent, securing nine podium finishes. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him on behalf of the whole team, and wish him a successful season as he joins Mercedes.

Ferrari je napisao/la:Bottas vrlo vjerojatno potpisao 1 + 1 ugovor. Mercedes se želi osigurati ukoliko bude slobodnih top vozača za 2018. (Vettel, Alonso, Ricci)