Bottas 2nd, Massa 4th: Williams back up front
Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, who set the 3rd and 5th fastest times in qualifying in Sochi, benefit from Sebastien Vettel's penalty and will gain a place on the grid tomorrow. Grove's single-seaters can hope to score big points tomorrow.
The characteristics of the Sochi circuit, a track that favors engine power without putting too much strain on the tires, clearly suit Williams F1. The white single-seaters also benefit from some aerodynamic updates this weekend. The race results were therefore particularly encouraging: Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa, with a good start tomorrow, can hope to shine during the first laps of the race.
The Finn was five-tenths slower than Sebastian Vettel, but he managed to outpace his compatriot Kimi Räikkönen, who made a mistake on his last qualifying lap. “I’m very happy with our qualifying performance,” Bottas logically rejoiced after the session. “It was the best result we could have hoped for, I believe, and my lap in Q3 was very good. This now puts us in a very good position for the race, and we need to focus on turning a good qualification into good race performance.” On three occasions in Sochi, Valtteri Bottas qualified third. “It’s a track I really enjoy,” confirmed the Finn, “and this track also suits our car.”
Williams continues with visibly effective development work: “The new evolutions we have introduced are helping us, so the team and the factory have done a good job improving the car,” Bottas congratulated himself. The Finn, who had a mixed start to the season, does not forget that Sebastian Vettel (starting 7th) and Lewis Hamilton (10th) should climb up the rankings: “We have some faster cars starting behind us, which will make the race more difficult. But the podium will be the goal.”
On his side, Felipe Massa did not manage to take Kimi Räikkönen’s scalp, but will still start in 4th position: « We were a bit lucky with the penalties for Ferrari and Mercedes [Hamilton actually had an engine failure, Editor’s note], but I think it was really a good session. We just need to focus on having a good race tomorrow. Everything is possible and this is probably the best circuit for us this season. »
Rob Smedley, the Performance Director, was also a happy man. The engineer emphasizes that Williams managed to overtake Red Bull to become the third force again: « It’s a great result for the team. We gained two positions (…) but reliability is at least as important as performance. I think the car is fast here – we are actually ahead of Red Bull, and Valtteri was faster than Räikkönen in the Ferrari. » Rob Smedley also praises the development work done at Grove: « If you look at where we were in Australia and Bahrain, and if you compare it with what the team has managed to produce to develop the car, it’s encouraging. »
The Williams team has traditionally had better starts than the Mercedes at the beginning of this season. Therefore, the first corner is likely to be particularly interesting.
