I personally expected Williams to be much closer to Mercedes here than what they were in qualifying. They surprised me by staying within touching distance during the race, but at the end of the day they were both beaten by a hard-charging Daniel Ricciardo. Both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa will see this race as a lost opportunity for one of them to have walked away with silverware. They will both be hoping for more at Interlagos – Massa’s home race.
Williams United States Grand Prix Review
No. 19 Felipe Massa (BRA)
Grid: P4
Race: P4
Massa was very soundly beaten by Bottas in qualifying but retaliated by producing a fantastic start. He made his way boldly past his team mate and held him off throughout the rest of the race. He was less than ten seconds behind the almighty Mercedes for much of the race but on the final round of pit stops Ricciardo made his way past due to Massa having a problem with one of the tyres and although Massa closed up a bit, he couldn’t pass the Australian. However fourth is his strongest result since Italy and moves him up another place in the table.
Massa: I had a good start to get up to 3rd & we showed strong pace throughout, but unfortunately a slow pitstop allowed Ricciardo to jump me
— WILLIAMS RACING (@WilliamsRacing) November 2, 2014
No. 40 Felipe Nasr (BRA)
Nasr took over Bottas’ car in Free Practice 1. The Brazilian who has missed out on the GP2 title did a solid job in first practice for the team.
No. 77 Valtteri Bottas (FIN)
Grid: P3
Race: P5
It was a bit of an anonymous race from Bottas oddly. He was beaten absolutely on merit by Massa this time around and the Finn was clearly unhappy with his performance here. He made a poor start and he was unable to challenge his team mate. He was then behind Ricciardo after his first pit stop and from then he stayed in a net fifth place.
Lots to learn for us from the race. 5th place not what I was targeting today.. But good points overall… http://t.co/dfcsZ3Z8gE
— Valtteri Bottas (@ValtteriBottas) November 2, 2014
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