Williams fall back from winning position

Williams had the most incredible start to the race. They were leading into the first corner with Felipe Massa taking the lead from Lewis Hamilton, with his team mate Valtteri Bottas also making a great start.

Thanks to a well timed safety car, Felipe Massa was able to back Lewis Hamilton off the track before the restart which enabled Bottas to overtake for second. The Finn looked quicker than Massa, but the team didn’t let him ahead, despite the Mercedes cars right on the tail.

It was Mercedes that blinked first, with Hamilton pitting that gave them the undercut and possibly the first mistake of the race. Later with the rain falling, they stayed out a lap too long which gave the advantage to Rosberg to overtake the pair.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering at Williams remained positive, despite what looked like an outstanding result, “There were a few moments in the race where things didn’t go our way. We have to remain positive and proud of our result.

“The pace we showed throughout this weekend was great, we had a stunning race up until the rain came. We raced two cars against both Mercedes for a majority of the race which shows the hard work and upgrades we are bringing to the car are all working.

“We closed the gap on second position and moved further ahead of fourth, so it has been a good weekend.”

Felipe Massa had an outstanding start, and drove a fantastic race at the early part, before being swallowed by the Mercedes drivers, “It is a frustrating result because the race was amazing today.

“I had a fantastic start and we were fighting with Mercedes the whole time, it could even have been possible to win the race if it had stayed dry, which is great to see.

“It was a shame to lost positions in the rain. We waited one lap longer on the second stop which is where we lost the opportunity to be on the podium. That shower also highlighted the car’s weakness in the wet.”

In echoing the comments by his team mate, Valtteri Bottas kept positive finishing in 5th, “In some ways it was an incredibly frustrating race, and others it was very pleasing.

“Both cars had great starts and we raced the Mercedes with genuine pace, but when the rain came I really struggled with the intermediate tyre. I was allowed to race Felipe, but it was hard to get through, and I didn’t want to make any mistakes.

“We have to have a look the race data and make sure we continue to learn from this.”

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