After Free Practice it was looking relatively good for Williams Racing at Monaco as they looked better in long runs compared to other points this season and they had two drivers more than capable of doing well. It wasn’t to be, but there were some positives.
No. 19 Felipe Massa moved up the field (BRA)
Q: P16
R: P7
After being taken out by Marcus Ericsson in Q1, this weekend looked likely to be a disaster for Massa before it had hardly begun. However, by using a different tyre strategy to most, he managed to work his way up through the field and found himself in seventh at the end of the race while drivers ahead of him seemed to cause trouble for themselves. He benefitted from the two safety cars caused by the Sauber drivers, but he kept out of trouble to pick up yet another seventh place finish; his equal best result of the season. He’ll be hoping for a far easier weekend in Canada.
No. 77 Valtteri Bottas retires early (FIN)
Q: P13
R: Retired on lap 55 – Hydraulics
Valtteri Bottas has retired only twice in his Formula One career from a mechanical problem. Both have been hydraulics failures. The team said the pace simply wasn’t there on Saturday, and he was running in a battle with Hulkenberg, Raikkonen, Magnussen, Button, Massa, Bianchi and Grosjean before his car went pop, putting an end to his very strong run of points finishes, so he could well have finished well into the top 10 yet again. He’ll be hoping to repeat his heroics in Canada, a race where he stunned the paddock by qualifying in third in a car which was not capable of it last time out.
Canada is a circuit where Williams should really excel, the long straights and heavy braking zones really should suit the car well there. I doubt they’ll be able to fight Mercedes, but certainly Ferrari and Red Bull should be on notice.
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