Williams unable to keep up with Red Bull at Austria
Williams arrived with high hopes to the Austrian GP, backing on the team's recent successes at the Red Bull Ring in the two previous seasons. Despite the expectations, the race brought only disappointment and a mere 2 points for Valtteri Bottas.
Two years ago, Felipe Massa scored his and the team's last pole position in Austria. The track characteristics are favourable to the Mercedes-powered cars, but at the finish, Williams lost a considerable haul of points to its rival Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship.
Valtteri Bottas had an eventful race, but the Finn had massive tyre problems. His tyres had significant graining which hindered him in his fight for a strong point-scoring result.
"We definitely expected more points today," started Bottas.
"The main problem was getting the tyres to work and to last, so that is something we need to understand before Silverstone because the temperatures could be similar to what they were here today. I don’t think our car was too bad this weekend, we just really struggled to get the tyres to work. It was a disappointing day, but it’s going to be very important to learn from today to move on."
Massa's hopes for a good result already diminished before the race as he had to start from the pit lane. The team found structural damage on the front wing. Performance engineer Rob Smedley declared the particular Austrian kerbstones were to blame for the cracks.
Still, despite initially fighting his way up into the points, he eventually have to retire due to overheating brakes.
"The race was going ok for me, I was fighting and gaining positions from the start and I had a very good pace during most of the race," added Massa.
"Unfortunately, I had a puncture and had to pit for new tyres. I had been saving the brakes for the whole race, but at the end I was close behind Gutierrez so the temperatures rose even more and I had to stop."
Williams is now fourth in the Constructors' Championship, 72 points down on Red Bull in third place.
