Williams: Bottas wants “to fight for victories”

In 2010, Valtteri Bottas joined Grove as a test driver, and after Bruno Senna’s departure, he became Pastor Maldonado’s teammate for the 2013 season. In his first season, the Finn qualified third at the Canadian Grand Prix, a top-tier performance for a car not necessarily well-born.

The Finnish driver was supported by Sir Frank Williams, who described him as simply one of the most talented young racing drivers I’ve met. As a reminder, Sir Frank Williams had launched the careers of several drivers such as Juan Pablo Montoya, David Coulthard, Nico Rosberg, not to mention two former world champions Jacques Villeneuve and Damon Hill.

The teammate of Felipe Massa is in demand on the transfer market; while Mercedes is keeping an eye on him, it is on the Ferrari side that Valtteri Bottas is mentioned in the event of his compatriot Kimi Räikkönen’s departure: «I don’t know anything about Kimi’s contract. All I know is that I want to be in the fastest available car. That’s all I can say. I don’t know if there’s any interest in me; you’ll have to ask my management. »

For the 2015 season, Valtteri Bottas hopes that Williams will catch up a bit with Mercedes. He hopes for this season that he will have a season similar to the 2014 season: « The car is quite similar, but a bit improved. It’s difficult to say where that puts us compared to others, how much they’ve improved over the winter, the goal is for the team to be competitive. My feeling is that it’s going to be a good year. I am quite optimistic because I see that they are making the right choices for the team ».

He reflects on his individual ambitions for the 2015 season: « If we can start the season the way we finished last year, that would be really great. I know we are capable of always improving, so if we could start at a good level, I would be happy at the beginning of the season to fight for podiums, and then later to fight for victories. »