Sunday: Bottas and Williams, third force after Mercedes and Red Bull
With his 5th place for Williams at the Spanish Grand Prix in Formula 1, Valtteri Bottas equaled his best career result. On the other hand, Felipe Massa suffered from traffic that compromised his race, not even finishing in the top 10.
Valtteri Bottas (#77) – 5th
For the Finn, the race was perfect in every way: « Today, we did our best. The strategy was correct and the team made very good pit stops, I made no mistakes, so we maximized what was possible. »
He matches his best performance (after Australia 2014) but couldn’t do better against a rampant Vettel: « It’s pleasing to be in the points and to match my best career result. It’s a shame that Vettel was so quick at the end, I tried to defend, but he had fresher tires. »
« The atmosphere in the team is fantastic, we are moving forward and the points fuel our appetite, » he concluded.
Felipe Massa (#19) – 13th
Despite a very good start, as often since the beginning of the season, the Brazilian could not really take advantage of it: « I got a good start and could have gained more positions, but Ricciardo was ahead so I couldn’t do anything. »
The rest of the race was more than delicate, with a strategy that didn’t work due to traffic: The three-stop strategy would have worked if the first stint had been clean, but I had cars in front of me which greatly damaged my tires. Instead of escaping from them and having a clear track, when they pitted, they had the advantage. It happened again during the second stint, so things didn’t go as I wanted.
