Williams to run floor and rear wing updates in Friday practice in Austria; Bottas and team-mate Massa say tough - but not impossible - to repeat 2014's qualy one-two
Thursday 18 June 2015 16:51, UK
Valtteri Bottas is optimistic Williams will be “really close” to Ferrari at the Austrian GP if their FW37 upgrades perform as the team expect.
Twelve months on from the race at which Williams announced their arrival as a front-running force after years in the doldrums, the Grove outfit arrive at the Red Bull Ring on the back of their best result of this season after Valtteri Bottas beat the Ferraris to the final podium position behind the dominant Mercedes W06s in Montreal.
Although there were obvious caveats accompanying Williams’ return to the top three – Kimi Raikkonen spun while occupying third and Sebastian Vettel started at the back of the grid – the FW37 was closer to the SF15-T than it had been in recent races.
Bottas is now eyeing an even stronger performance this weekend on another power-dominated circuit, with the car to be equipped with several aerodynamic updates. And while the Finn admits repeating last year’s shock one-two qualifying result will be tough given Mercedes’ form, he is confident Williams can fight Ferrari to be 'best of the rest'.
“Last year’s car especially suited this track really well and I think this year should be the same thing. Mercedes has obviously been maybe a little bit more ahead at the beginning of the season than they were last year, so being one-two in qualifying is probably trickier this season – but you never know,” Bottas said on Thursday.
“We have some updates on the car which we are going to try on Friday before we get too excited and then we will see how strong we are. From the last race getting the first podium of the season for us motivates everyone – we know again we can do it.
"That should be our target. If all the updates work as expected we should be really close with Ferrari. That will be our big goal for this race.”
Bottas confirmed that Williams' main updates are focused around the FW37’s floor and rear wing and that “the [simulation] numbers look good, but you always needs to prove it works as expected”.
“Ninety per cent of the parts we have put on the car have worked as expected so let’s hope that trend continues this season,” he added.
Team-mate Felipe Massa, polesitter here for the team last year, agreed that Mercedes are probably further ahead of the pack than this time in 2014, but also isn’t ruling any scenarios out.
“You can never say never. We know it’s going to be difficult because Mercedes is the quickest car and with a good margin this year in every race,” said the Brazilian, who remains the only driver other than Hamilton and Rosberg to sit on pole in F1’s current turbo era.
“Maybe it was a little bit smaller last year, especially in qualifying, compared to the other teams. But we will try.
“We always fight for the first position and we need to try again. Mercedes is very strong, but I hope it will be possible.”
Don’t miss Sky Sports F1’s exclusively live coverage of the 2015 Austrian GP. The race begins at 1pm on Sunday, with build-up underway from 11.30am. No Sky Sports? No problem! Watch the Austrian GP for £6.99 with NOW TV
