Aug.25 (GMM) Lewis Hamilton says he hopes Valtteri Bottas stays at Mercedes next year.
In the past days, Ferrari and McLaren have re-signed Kimi Raikkonen and Stoffel Vandoorne respectively for 2018, but Finn Bottas’ fate at Mercedes is less clear.
One rumour is that Sebastian Vettel could replace him.
"I think it’s highly unlikely that Vettel will be here," Hamilton said at Spa, "and I don’t think he wants to be my teammate.
"He would not be in the position he is now in his team (Ferrari) in terms of how the team operates if he was here (at Mercedes)," the Briton added.
However, Hamilton indicated that he would welcome any driver to Mercedes, because "I am always game to race whoever it is".
But the triple world champion also said he thinks Mercedes is happy with Bottas.
"I don’t believe any of the bosses or any of the individuals within the team is unhappy with what is currently in place, so I find it hard to believe they will change that," said Hamilton.