Another great qualifying but an even better race at the Spanish Grand Prix has given Valtteri Bottas another fifth-place finish this season, equalling his best result to date. He made an alternate strategy work to beat both the Ferraris and the Lotus of Romain Grosjean, which were all arguably faster this weekend. Heading into the race Felipe Massa was upbeat, saying that the upgrades which were brought worked, unlike last season when he drove for Ferrari. We saw this improvement on the track, with generally much better rear downforce and looking after the tyres better than almost any other team. This bodes well for Monaco, a circuit where downforce is vital. This result will be fantastic for Bottas’ confidence too. The same cannot be said for his teammate however, who struggled all weekend in comparison to his much younger companion.
No. 19 Felipe Massa (BRA)
Q: P9
R: P13
A big mistake in qualifying left Massa behind both Ferraris and the McLaren of Jenson Button on the grid. He had his traditional good start but struggled to look after his tyres in the first part of the race behind other cars and was forced into making three pit stops, which is something you don’t want to do as the pit lane in Spain is one of the longest on the calendar. He dropped back behind both Force Indias and both struggling McLarens in the race for his third race outside the points out of five. He generally struggled this weekend compared to his teammate. He now lies bottom of all the Mercedes-powered drivers in the Drivers’ Championship, with just twelve points, 22 fewer than his teammate. He’ll be hoping for a better showing at Monaco, a circuit which he has taken an excellent pole position at in the past.
No. 77 Valtteri Bottas (FIN)
Q: P4
R: P5
Stunned everybody by placing his Williams on the second row of the grid, beating Grosjean’s Lotus and the Ferraris to that P4 spot as Vettel hit trouble in the ever-improving Red Bull. He diced with Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull early on but dropped back after the first round of pit stops. He then went on and looked after his tyres en route to being one of a few drivers to make a two-stop strategy work. He couldn’t hold off the fast-charging Vettel towards the end of the race as the German driver lunged into the heavy braking zone of turn 10. However, despite this, Bottas has to be my driver of the weekend. It was a performance that any driver would be happy with, and unlike every other eyebrow-raising performance where he felt he should have done better, he knew he drove well here. The Ferraris looked quicker here in both qualifying and in race trim, yet he held off both World Champion drivers. He, Rosberg, Alonso and Hulkenberg are the only drivers to have scored points in every race so far this season, and only he and Rosberg have had five successive top-8 finishes out of five races, and Rosberg is driving a car considerably quicker than anything else.
All of a sudden, Williams are back in business. They have overtaken McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship, and Bottas and the team have finally delivered a performance without mistakes. I am sure that team principal and deputy-team principal respectively Sir Frank and Claire Williams will be delighted by their young Finnish star. Monaco will be an interesting challenge, but generally a car that goes well at Spain also goes well at Monaco and if the drivers deliver another top 5 could be on the cards at Formula One’s most famous race.
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