Mercedes technical director James Allison has said that Valtteri Bottas is deserving of his place in the team after the Finn recovered from a pitlane spin during practice at the Styrian Grand Prix which lost him a front row grid spot to finish third. Bottas' spin in the pitlane as he went back out on track during FP2 earned him a three-spot grid penalty for the race, but despite the incident and questions being raised over his future with the team, the driver managed to work his way up to a podium spot by the end. Williams driver George Russell, who drove alongside Bottas as a replacement for Sir Lewis Hamilton at last year's Sakhir Grand Prix, has been raised as a potential replacement should Mercedes decide to shake up their drive line up, but Allison told the F1 Nation podcast that Bottas had shown in Austria the talent that got him the drive. "Well, certainly, he's very, very keen to show that (he is determined)," Allison said. "He is worthy of his place in the team. And a top ranked driver, and a weekend like the last one is extremely helpful for him in that regard." While Allison declined to speculate on the future of the driving pairing when asked if Hamilton and Bottas wold remain teammates for 2022, but added that the combination had brought success for Mercedes over the years. "It's not my place to to speculate on that, to be honest. They've been a very good driver pairing. But but it's it's not my place to speculate further," he said.
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