Mercedes made Williams an offer it could not refuse last winter to secure the services of Valtteri Bottas following the retirement of Nico Rosberg.
The German manufacturer was left with few reasonable choices to replace the reigning world champion at the end of last year and set its sights on the Finnish driver who was contracted to Williams for 2017.
According to Motorsport.com, the Grove-based outfit was convinced to release its number one driver in exchange for £10 million!
Williams Grand Prix Holdings, which is a publicly quoted company, released its financial results for the first half of 2017 this week, revealing that its racing team generated a profit of more than £10.4 million.
Without the lavish Mercedes payment received in exchange for Bottas, profits at Williams would have likely been close to nothing.
Rosberg's retreat from the sport saved Mercedes the payment of a hefty retainer, estimated at $20 million, which would have been owed to the German had he stayed with the Silver Arrows squad in 2017.
Overall therefore, despite its buy-out of Bottas' contract, Mercedes likely saved itself some cash.
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