Should Williams Sign Jenson Button, Felipe Massa or Someone Else for 2017?
With Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari already confirming their driver lineups for the 2017 Formula One season, Williams are the best-placed team with possible vacancies for next year.
Naturally, Williams and their current drivers, Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, have become the subject of much speculation.
And aside from the present lineup, deputy team principal Claire Williams recently mentioned McLaren's Jenson Button and Force India's Sergio Perez as possible candidates for one of her team's seats, per the Press Association (h/t the Daily Mail).
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So there are a lot of options for Williams, but which combination would be best for the team? And would that combination make sense for the drivers involved?
Looking at the current drivers, Bottas is just 26 years old and has the look of a future champion—or at least a grand prix winner.
In the past, he has been mentioned in the same breath as both Ferrari and Mercedes, but so far, he has spent his entire F1 career at Williams—and Williams would be wise to keep him for as long as possible. There are few drivers on the grid with more potential than the Finn.
According to Motorsport.com's Jonathan Noble, "It is thought to be a formality that Valtteri Bottas will be kept by Williams for another season, especially with the team understood to have an option over his services that leaves him committed if they want him."
Even if Bottas were keen to move on after four years with the Grove-based outfit, there are not necessarily any better seats available for 2017. And besides, it sounds like Bottas is content with another year at Williams.
"Valtteri has been very adamant about his commitment towards Williams since the beginning of this season, especially because of the change in the regulations for next year and the trust he has in them," his manager, Didier Coton, recently told Autosport's Ian Parkes. "There is a bit of an unfinished story between those two, and he wants to commit as much as he can to the team."
Massa is the wild card in Williams' current lineup.
At the Hungarian Grand Prix Thursday press conference, the Brazilian said: "Plan A is to stay in a top team, in a good team, like Williams or maybe like another team. So we just need to… I think the time will give the right answer."
However, the decision is likely out of Massa's hands. If Williams decide to bring in another driver, Massa will be scrambling to find another race seat for next year—and it almost certainly would not be with a "top team."
Massa does have plenty of experience. In fact, only eight drivers have started more grands prix. He also has 11 wins and 41 podiums over his 14 years in F1.
Although he has revived his career with Williams after sitting behind Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, Massa has not been the same since his 2009 accident during Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying. He spent four more years in race-winning Ferrari cars following his injury but never returned to the top step of the podium.
However, Williams have certainly benefited from Massa's experience during their revival, and they might decide that driver stability is the best option with the significant changes to the technical regulations coming for 2017. That is what the other top teams have done.
Earlier this year, Massa told the official F1 website:
"I believe with the changes that are looming for 2017 I could be someone that could be very useful and make a real difference—for whatever team, Williams or another. Just look back on how Williams were in 2013 and how they have improved - it was massive. And not just the car or the engine: the mentality of the team improved massively. I put myself behind that one hundred percent. I think I was very important for that change—and I want to be in the future too.
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The reality, though, is that if Williams want to get back to winning F1 races, Massa is not the best option for them going forward.
Button's last wins came back in 2012 for McLaren, before struggling through four seasons in relatively uncompetitive cars. He started his F1 career with Williams, so a move back there would evoke some nostalgic feelings, but that is not how teams make driver decisions.
The Brit offers a similar level of experience as Massa (he is one of the few drivers with more grands prix on his resume), but have the last couple years, spent closer to the back of the grid than the front, stolen some of his edge?
It didn't look like it this year in Austria, for example, where Button qualified a brilliant fifth—McLaren's best Saturday performance since switching to Honda engines in 2015.
He may still be able to get the maximum out of his car, but signing Button would not be a long-term proposition for Williams. He will be 37 by the start of the 2017 season and might only have a year or two left in F1. There are other, younger drivers who still have plenty of experience.
Not only that, but if given the choice (he might not be), Button might prefer to stay at McLaren and finally reap some of the benefits of their Honda partnership after suffering through all the growing pains.
And that brings us to Perez. The Mexican is the same age as Bottas but already has 105 F1 starts compared to the Finn's 68.
Perez had several flashy results at Sauber in 2012, including a second-place finish in Malaysia—a race he nearly won.
McLaren signed him for 2013 to partner with Button, but the team produced a disappointing car and neither driver made it to the podium that year.
Cast aside in favour of Kevin Magnussen, Perez found a soft landing spot at Force India. Teamed with Nico Hulkenberg, Perez has arguably outshone the talented German, scoring four podium finishes since 2014, including two this year.
Like Bottas, Perez has been linked to Ferrari, but that is no longer an option for 2017. Perez does have another advantage over most drivers in that he brings a significant amount of sponsorship from Mexican businessman Carlos Slim.
Perez recently told the official F1 website that he will have a discussion with his sponsors about what is best for his future. And even if Williams do want Perez, that discussion may not turn out well for them.
Williams finished third in the constructors' championship in 2014 and 2015, but they have slipped to fourth this year and are actually in danger of being caught by Force India. Perez's current team is just 15 points behind having outscored Williams 67 to 31 since the Monaco Grand Prix.
Williams scored 320 points in 2014, 257 last year, and they are on pace for fewer than 200 this season—not exactly a promising trend.
With the changes coming for 2017, though, Perez will need to guess which team is likely to produce the better car for next year. If he chooses Williams, his talent and sponsorship should make it an easy decision for Claire Williams and the rest of the management team.
Bottas and Perez would give the team two young, exciting drivers with plenty of potential. Whether they can build a car to match their talents is another question.
If Perez is not available, it looks like a toss-up between Massa and Button, with the former's familiarity with the team weighed against the latter's commercial appeal, particularly as a championship-winning British driver on a British team.
Matthew Walthert is an F1 columnist for Bleacher Report UK. He has also written for VICE, FourFourTwo and The Globe and Mail. Follow him on Twitter:
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