It's Monday 6th September and a breaking news episode on today’s podcast. Ariana is currently flying from the Netherlands to Italy to prepare for hosting this weekend's TV coverage, so you've got Martyn to introduce the news today.

Well it's the announcement we thought was coming but you never know until it's a done deal.

George Russell will be driving the Mercedes-Benz next to Lewis Hamiton and Valtteri Bottas will join the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team in 2022 at the start of what the Swiss outfit says is a multi-year deal.

The Finn's departure from Mercedes has been expected for some weeks, and a return to Williams was also a potential option before it became clear that his destination was Alfa Romeo.

Kimi Raikkonen's retirement announcement on Wednesday was the first in a series of pieces of the driver market puzzle fall into place.

Confirmation from Mercedes that George Russell is to join the world champion team as replacement for Bottas will follow this week.

Bottas is reunited at Alfa Romeo with team principal Fred Vasseur, with whom he worked at ART in F3 in 2009 and 2010, and in GP3 in 2011, when he won the championship.

Despite the strong contribution of Bottas over the years, the prospect of promoting Russell from Williams ultimately proved irresistible for Mercedes and team boss Toto Wolff.

The Austrian was involved in Bottas's management before a conflict of interest obliged him to step back. Wolff has long stressed that he wanted to ensure that his former protege found a new seat should Russell be given the nod for the Mercedes drive, and said after Bottas's move to Alfa was announced that "he would absolutely have deserved to stay" in 2022.

The news that Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas will join Alfa Romeo next year is the first key move in Formula 1's 2022 driver market. In an exclusive interview with Autosport, team boss Fred Vasseur explains why the Finn he last worked with a decade ago has the traits his team needs for 2022, as F1 enters its brave new era. You can read all of that in the Plus section of Autosport.com.

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Go to Autosport.com/plus and click ‘Sign In’ at the top of the page, then use promo code PODCAST for that 50% discount. Thanks for listening today, we’ll be back soon.

Read more:

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/valtteri-bottas-to-drive-for-alfa-romeo-f1-team-in-2022/6661658/

Wolff: Bottas would have deserved 2022 Mercedes F1 drive

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/wolff-says-bottas-would-have-deserved-2022-mercedes-f1-drive/6661703/

Why Alfa Romeo has picked Bottas to be its 2022 F1 "leader"

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/why-alfa-romeo-has-picked-bottas-to-be-its-2022-f1-leader/6661657/