Valtteri Bottas sponsor ends deal over weak results

A major personal sponsor of Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas has chosen not to renew its deal with the Finn over "weak results" during the 2018 season. The Wihuri Group, which is owned and chaired by Finnish billionaire Antti Aarnio-Wihuri, has sponsored Bottas' motorsport career for almost 20 years, however, the Finnish conglomerate has ended its deal with the 29-year-old over his poor form. "It's been disappointing," Aarnio-Wihuri told Finland's Ilta-Sanomille. "It was not entirely his own fault, some of it was due to the team and technical problems, but I think he was quite weak at the end of the year." "It's a difficult place to be as Hamilton's team-mate, but Valtteri was left behind by many others and was only fifth overall. It was a pretty weak result."

Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel fired warning by Red Bull chief