Heikki Kovalainen has revealed that he contacted Claire Williams to offer his services to the team ahead of Valtteri Bottas’ proposed move to the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.
The former Renault, McLaren, Lotus and Caterham F1 Team driver admitted to emailing the deputy Team Principal of Williams Martini Racing about the vacancy, but with Felipe Massa taking the drive instead, the thirty-five-year-old Finn will continue with his Super GT career in Japan.
“Yes, I sent Claire an email,” said Kovalainen to Finnish broadcaster MTV. “But they had other plans. Probably many other drivers had sent the same message.”
Kovalainen, who took one Formula 1 race victory in Hungary in 2008, ironically when Massa retired from the lead with just a handful of laps remaining, feels his fellow Finn Bottas has the ability to succeed at Mercedes, and that he will be able to cooperate with Lewis Hamilton.
“I’m not going to predict how Valtteri will go, but he is a very good driver,” said Kovalainen to the Ilta Sanomat newspaper. “Valtteri has sufficient ability to be at the top. I also believe the cooperation between Valtteri and Lewis will go well. Both are professional drivers.”
