Williams wins its tight battle against Ferrari
Valtteri Bottas set the third fastest time in the qualifying session at Suzuka, two-tenths ahead of Sebastian Vettel. Felipe Massa, for his part, managed to beat Kimi Räikkönen and will start 5th.
Evidently, the fast Suzuka circuit suits the Williams better than the narrow streets of the Singapore track. Saturday’s results (3rd place for Valtteri Bottas, 5th for Felipe Massa) clearly demonstrate this and allow the Grove team to anticipate scoring big points in the race.
Valtteri Bottas, solidly in 3rd, proved to be “the best of the rest” in Q3: « I am very happy to be third again in Suzuka. It was a good day. We made some changes after FP3 that brought exactly what we were looking for, so the team really did a great job. I feel comfortable in the car, and that is very important here. I enjoyed the session a lot. We need to aim for a podium tomorrow. »
For just under a tenth, Felipe Massa could have joined his teammate on the second row. The Brazilian remains optimistic for the race: « It was a good qualifying session here. We managed to save a set of tires for tomorrow. The car was competitive even though I didn’t show its full potential after the red flag in Q3. (…) A long race awaits us tomorrow. I think we can deliver a solid performance. »
Rob Smedley, the performance director, also confirms that Felipe Massa had Sebastian Vettel in his sights: « Without the red flag, we could have finished third and fourth, and that was our goal at the start of the session. (…) The long stints look good, and we need to convert our qualifying into a significant points gain over our competitors tomorrow. »
