Sunday: Williams and Bottas in the top 10, Grand Prix ruined for Massa
Mixed results for the Grove team, which secured 7th place thanks to Valtteri Bottas, while a completely botched pit stop sent Felipe Massa to the back of the standings.
Valtteri Bottas (No. 77) – 7th
For the Finn, it’s a good top 10 in a Grand Prix that could have ended at the first corner when Nico Rosberg and he collided: « It was a good race for me, despite the heavy contact at the start which cost me a few positions. I also had to drive the entire race without telemetry, which was not easy to do. »
« We made progress throughout the weekend, which is good […] we hope to do the same in Spain in three weeks, » he concluded.
Felipe Massa (No. 19) – 15th
Like Bottas, the Brazilian could have quickly been put out of the race at the start, during a contact with Fernando Alonso, even though he got the best start: « I got another excellent start today and we were fighting at the front. I felt contact with Fernando but fortunately the car wasn’t damaged so I was able to continue. »
But all this good work was spoiled by a missed pit stop on the 10th lap: « There was an error during the first stop and it actually cost me the race because I came back on track in the last position. It’s a frustrating situation and something we need to work on to ensure it never happens again. »