• Valtteri Bottas achieved his third consecutive podium and the team’s 300th podium at the German GP today.
• Felipe Massa’s race unfortunately ended early after he was involved in a first corner incident.
• Valtteri chased the quicker Mercedes of Rosberg during the early stages, managing his tyres well whilst increasing the gap to the cars behind.
• In the closing laps Valtteri worked hard to keep Lewis Hamilton behind to finish second, moving the team up to third in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Ferrari.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: We have only one car home today, so we are not as happy as we could be. However, Valtteri did a fantastic job and the guys on the pitwall were exceptional. We kept calm and did what we needed to do. Our strategy at times was different to others, but we kept our confidence and Valtteri pushed when we needed him to. We have overtaken Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship which is the reward for our continuing improvements. We just need that bad luck for Felipe to stop as our aim now is to get both cars on the podium.
Valtteri Bottas: I am really happy with the way the race went today. As a team we have been unlucky not to have both drivers on the podium as we had the pace. To keep a Mercedes behind at the end of the race was promising showing that it is possible, and the car is very strong. The engineers shared a lot of information with me about the tyres and where Hamilton was and that team work was the key to the good result.
Felipe Massa: Luckily I am ok but I am not happy. I was in front going into the corner, and so to have another race ended by another driver is not easy. I am doing my best, the team are doing their best, and we just aren’t getting the chances we need. Going into the first corner I was near to Valtteri but had to back off to stop an accident, sadly some others didn’t do the same. I am obviously very disappointed. Well done to Valtteri, it shows we have the car to get on the podium.
– See more at: http://williamsf1.com/Team/Media/News/German-GP-Race1/#sthash.lO6kEAzZ.dpuf
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