2016 Williams Martini Racing F1 Team - Mercedes

[LookBackTime]

Bottas: Williams must be ready for Ferrari slip-up
By Julien Billiotte, 29/04/2016 at 15:53 News, Williams Leave a comment
Motor Racing - Formula One World Championship - Russian Grand Prix - Practice Day - Sochi, Russia© XPB Images

Valtteri Bottas says Williams must be ready to make the most of any slip-up from Ferrari at the Russian Grand Prix, but warns against underestimating the Scuderia following its challenging Friday practice in Sochi.

After a somewhat subdued start to its 2016 season, the British outfit is looking to turn a corner, having brought a series of updates to Russia including an engine evolution.

With 42 laps under his belt, Bottas was the busiest driver in the afternoon session where he and team-mate Felipe Massa displayed strong race pace.

While the Finn thinks Williams is ripe to take advantage of Ferrari’s struggles, he also claims the Italian squad remains a force to be reckoned with.

“It looks like we’re not that far [to Ferrari], but we shouldn’t underestimate them, as they can always be very quick,” said Bottas, who posted the sixth quickest time in FP2. “At least it’s looking better than in the previous races but Saturday we’ll really find out, and on Sunday too.

“We don’t mind if the people in front of us are in trouble… It always gives us opportunities and we just have to make sure we are, at least this weekend, the team that will pick up extra points in case something happens.”

Although Bottas was encouraged by Williams’ speed over longer stints on the supersoft Pirelli compound, the 26-year-old adds that his team must now strive to reach a similar level of performance in qualifying trim.

“It’s been a good Friday but it’s difficult to say if it has been the best of the season so far. We gathered lots of data but there’s still a lot of stuff to analyse for Saturday. We don’t fully understand the tyre behaviour in the shorter runs, so there’s definitively work to be done.”

“It’s positive, but there’s still a bit of work to do, particularly in the shorter runs and to understand the tyres. It’s very difficult here, you know, one time you do a small front wing adjustment in the pits and when you go out you suddenly have massively more grip than in the lap before, so we need to understand why. At least the long run was good,”

[Stalker1]

Two questions arised:

1) What causes the cars sensitivity to front wing adjustments on this particular track?
2) Why they have chosen Ferrari as the guys to beat? Red Bulls seemed reasonably quick in both practises.

[LookBackTime]

WILLIAMS RACING ‏@WilliamsRacing
Practice makes perfect! The crew putting in some hard work during #FP3 @MassaFelipe19 #RussianGP

[continuum16]

With vettel's penalty, P2 and P4 is pretty good. It would be a shame if at least one of them isn't on the podium given their long-run speed

[LookBackTime]

RUSSIAN GP QUALIFYING

30 APR 2016
Sochi, Russia
5.848 kms / 3.634 miles

Qualifying Notes
• Valtteri Bottas qualified third and Felipe Massa fifth for the Russian Grand Prix
• Both drivers comfortably made it through into the top ten shootout using supersoft tyres on each run.
• Valtteri drove a great lap at the end of Q3 to hold onto P3 ahead of Raikkonen.
• Following Vettel’s penalty, Valtteri will start second on the grid with Felipe promoted to fourth for tomorrow’s race start.

Weather: Warm and dry
Temperature: Air: 16-17C Track: 29-30C

Q1
V. Bottas: 1:37.746 (5th)
F. Massa: 1:37.753 (6th)
Quickest time: L Hamilton 1:36.006

Q2
V. Bottas: 1:37.746 (5th)
F. Massa: 1:37.753 (6th)
Quickest time: N Rosberg 1:35.337

Q3
V. Bottas: 1:36.536 (3rd)
F. Massa: 1:37.016 (5th)
Quickest time: N Rosberg 1:35.417


Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It’s a great result for the team. We gained a couple of positions because of Vettel and Hamilton, but reliability is as much a part of the game as performance is. I think the car is quick here – we were genuinely in front of Red Bull, and Valtteri was quicker than Raikkonen in the Ferrari. Regardless of what people could have done, the timesheets are usually the greatest arbitrator of everything. We did our homework this morning with the two cars in FP3 and went into qualifying with a game plan which we executed well. We definitely have to aim for the podium tomorrow. I think there’s a certain point where you can turn a good season into a great season, and this is an opportunity. If you look at where we were in Australia and Bahrain, compared to how far the team has come in working to develop the car, it is encouraging. We’ve got new parts and we’re trying to optimise the car all the time, and I think that’s really key in understanding the tyres, which is so important. If you think how far we’ve come in three races, then it’s really good progress.

Valtteri Bottas: I’m very pleased with our qualifying performance; it was the maximum result I think we could have achieved, and my lap in Q3 was very good. It now puts us in a very good position for the race and we need to focus on turning a good qualifying, into a good race performance. This is a track that I really like and normally do well at, and it’s a track that suits our car. The new parts we have introduced are helping us, so the team at the factory and track have done a good job in improving the car. We have some fast cars starting behind us which will make the race difficult, but a podium will be the target.

Felipe Massa: It was a good qualifying for us as starting P2 and P4 is positive. We were a bit lucky with the penalties for Ferrari and Mercedes but I think it was definitely a good session. We just need to concentrate to have a good race tomorrow. Anything is possible and it’s probably the best track for us so far this season, so we’ll try and put everything together in the race.

[LookBackTime]

Formula 1 ‏@F1
LAP 48/53: Massa slips some new shoes on his Williams

[domh245]

Williams once again with the quickest stop

[LookBackTime]

RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX

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01 MAY 2016
Sochi, Russia
5.848kms/3.634 miles

Weather: Warm and dry
Temperature: Air: 16-18C, Track: 34-42C

Race Notes:
• Valtteri Bottas finished fourth and Felipe Massa fifth in today’s Russian Grand Prix
• Valtteri had a great start, running as high as second after overtaking Raikkonen in the early stages of the race. He made his only pitstop on lap 16 but ended up losing out to Hamilton and Raikkonen to remain comfortably fourth for the remainder of the race
• Felipe maintained fourth place in the opening laps but eventually lost out to Hamilton. He stopped on lap 18 and remained comfortably in fifth, giving him enough of a gap to make a second pitstop for supersoft tyres as he began struggling with degradation on the soft tyre
• The team picked up 22 points, which has helped close the gap to third-placed Red Bull to just six points in the Constructors’ Championship

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It was a good race, and it was a really good weekend. Every day we got our heads down and have done what we needed to do. The car performance is going forward, even in race trim today. We had improving pace against Ferrari and Mercedes and that’s what we need to keep heading towards. I think our pace against Red Bull this weekend has been really good; they’ve had a bad weekend and we’ve absolutely capitalised on that. Felipe’s tyres were degrading a bit towards the end so we made a precautionary stop and let him run on the supersofts again, as we had enough of a margin to easily stop him and retain fifth. The race played out just as we expected it to really, so it was very good from that point of view. We’ve gained 22 points over Red Bull and Toro Rosso, so that’s really good, and third is well within our sights now; we just have to keep heading towards it. As I’ve mentioned before, we’ve developed the car a lot, but we need another two or three tenths, and we just need to keep developing it, in all areas. Nobody is free from finding performance in Formula One, and certainly not at Williams, but I think we got the most we could have done out of today.

Valtteri Bottas: The beginning of the race was pretty good and we managed to defend against some of the quicker cars behind. I think being aggressive with the early pitstop was good but unfortunately the cars with more pace managed to get through, and at the end of the race there wasn’t much happening for me. All-in-all the team has done a good job this weekend. It’s positive to get a lot of points for Williams. There’s definitely progress, this is a good track for us so that helped, but we just need to keep improving. I definitely had more in mind today than fourth so we need to keep pushing.

Felipe Massa: I think it was a very positive weekend for us and a very positive race. I would have loved to finish fourth and not fifth, but that’s just part of the game so I’m happy with the result. We managed to score a lot more points than Red Bull, and that’s the target for us right now. They have a very good team and a very good car, but we need to keep believing. This weekend was a very good weekend so we need to keep fighting like that. I think for the team the best position was fourth and fifth. Valtteri was able to manage the tyres better here, whilst I was able to manage them better in China. That’s the way it goes, but today’s result is very good for Williams.

[LookBackTime]

http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-web ... -2016.html

Grand Prix Team Driver Fastest Stop
Australia Williams Valtteri Bottas 2.35s
Bahrain Williams Felipe Massa 2.27s
China Williams Felipe Massa 2.10s
Russia Williams Felipe Massa 2.23s

Quite amazing times!

[domh245]

Australia Williams Valtteri Bottas 2.35s
Bahrain Williams Felipe Massa 2.27s
China Williams Felipe Massa 2.10s
Russia Williams Felipe Massa 2.23s

I am sick and tired of this Williams Dominance. We need to change the rules to even out the playing field!

[XRayF1]

I do not know about you, guys, but can anyone please tell me why none of the Williams drivers fight to keep their position?

I mean, e.g. Massa being overtaken by Hammilton before turn 2 at the end of the main straight at the beginning of the race -why was he not taking the inner line against his opponent?
And this was not the first time this happened.
Same at China, again long straight, heavy breaking to the hairpin...

I was mildly surprised about Bottas today after he lost his position to Hamilton.
Beacause after he lost this, he fought with Raikonnen (a little bit more) and with Hamilton the second time after their pitstop.

But it seems to be a pattern.
Has this something to do with their car(s)?

[LookBackTime]

...
Has this something to do with their car(s)?

I would say that is the answer.
Their car is not at the level of Ferrari and Mercedes yet.

[LookBackTime]

...
But it seems to be a pattern.
Has this something to do with their car(s)?

Got your questions answered by Valtteri itself!!

"
Valtteri Bottas: My season starts here

Valtteri Bottas believes his performance at the Russian Grand Prix is a sign of things to come after he recorded his best result of the season.

The Finn started from second in Sochi and spent the early stages of the race dicing with Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, before ultimately losing out to both as he finished fourth, ahead of Williams teammate Felipe Massa in fifth.

"We made a step forward here," Bottas said. "But I think it will be a very close battle with Red Bull. It's a long season and even small developments will help.

"It should be a tight battle but I think my season really starts from here. It was quite a positive weekend, so hopefully we'll have many good results to come from now on."

Bottas claimed a podium finish at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix and was heading towards the same result in the 2015 event before a last lap collision with Raikkonen ended his race. There was no repeat of a coming together between the Finns this year, however, as Raikkonen went on to claim third.

When asked about his battle with the 2007 world champion, Bottas said: "He seemed to struggle a bit in the last two corners, before the restart, so I managed to get close to him and get a tow - that helped!"

"In the first stint I could still keep Kimi and Lewis behind but in the second stint the pace difference was too big. I think that, even if I had kept them behind for longer, it would have been just a matter of time before they would have got through."

Rob Smedley, Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, agreed that the Grove-based outfit maximised its performance in the race.

"We've got to be reasonably pragmatic about it and understand where we are coming from compared to Ferrari," said Smedley. "Our principal target was to beat Red Bull which we did fairly comprehensively.

"The positive is that we've moved closer to the pace of Ferrari and we are there racing with Ferrari and a little bit -- even though it comes from Lewis's reliability yesterday -- a little bit with Mercedes. We're moving forward."
"

[XRayF1]

...
But it seems to be a pattern.
Has this something to do with their car(s)?

Got your questions answered by Valtteri itself!!

"
Valtteri Bottas: My season starts here

Valtteri Bottas believes his performance at the Russian Grand Prix is a sign of things to come after he recorded his best result of the season.

The Finn started from second in Sochi and spent the early stages of the race dicing with Kimi Raikkonen and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, before ultimately losing out to both as he finished fourth, ahead of Williams teammate Felipe Massa in fifth.

"We made a step forward here," Bottas said. "But I think it will be a very close battle with Red Bull. It's a long season and even small developments will help.

"It should be a tight battle but I think my season really starts from here. It was quite a positive weekend, so hopefully we'll have many good results to come from now on."

Bottas claimed a podium finish at the 2014 Russian Grand Prix and was heading towards the same result in the 2015 event before a last lap collision with Raikkonen ended his race. There was no repeat of a coming together between the Finns this year, however, as Raikkonen went on to claim third.

When asked about his battle with the 2007 world champion, Bottas said: "He seemed to struggle a bit in the last two corners, before the restart, so I managed to get close to him and get a tow - that helped!"

"In the first stint I could still keep Kimi and Lewis behind but in the second stint the pace difference was too big. I think that, even if I had kept them behind for longer, it would have been just a matter of time before they would have got through."

Rob Smedley, Head of Vehicle Performance at Williams, agreed that the Grove-based outfit maximised its performance in the race.

"We've got to be reasonably pragmatic about it and understand where we are coming from compared to Ferrari," said Smedley. "Our principal target was to beat Red Bull which we did fairly comprehensively.

"The positive is that we've moved closer to the pace of Ferrari and we are there racing with Ferrari and a little bit -- even though it comes from Lewis's reliability yesterday -- a little bit with Mercedes. We're moving forward."
"

This explains his attitude, but not what happened during the race.
Williams was stronger in Sochi than on the other tracks.
So perhaps, just perhaps, Bottas/Massa had more confidence in the car, or at least it may have been just more predictable.

However, Bottas' statement does not say anything about why they struggle to fight for position after a long straight at all.
It only says "I will do a Sochi-race more often from now on."
That's a nice goal, but I would have to assume that this should be the case at every race, right?

But I have a big suspicion that Williams are bad (as in really bad) cars under heavy braking.
Otherwise, I would have to assume that Massa and Bottas are simply not hungry enough to fight ...
And this I refuse to believe.

I will dig out some examples as to what I mean in a couple of days.

[graham.reeds]

Williams (like SFI) are slippery with low downforce which is why they are quick in a straight line and good out of corners.

I have zero data to back this up but I started to watch when the Williams starts to brake when not being challenged and on the long straight at China (difficult to judge due to lack of visual markers) it seemed to be 2 car lengths earlier than the Red Bull or Ferrari and about 1 car length at Sochi.

They are also bad in the wet and under braking which since their resurgence which leads me to believe they are still lacking in downforce despite Smedleys claims.

I wonder if they would be more or less competitive if they sacrificed some of their top speed for more downforce.

As for not defending going into the corners and fighting for the position... First that compromises the tyre strategy you are on. A car with newer tyres could be a second quicker and you could keep them behind you for a couple of laps but then your tyres will be completely shagged and they will still pass you. Second they know they they are still inferior to Mercedes and Ferrari so battling them is not going to help them. Third they need points haul to keep them with Red Bull who still probably has the best chassis out there (paired with the 3rd rate engine). Fighting doesn't help them in the long run.