2015 Austrian Grand Prix Williams Review
It’s safe to say Williams have not made the step forward from last year that they hoped for, with Ferrari clearly leapfrogging them. However, Austria is notorious for being a power circuit and with a Mercedes engine in the back, Williams were looking good for this weekend.
No. 19 Felipe Massa
Form: 4/6/5/10/6/15/6/3
Having qualified fourth, his highest position of the year, Massa was decidedly optimistic, despite Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari being in front. He steered clear of trouble in the opening laps and maintained his position with Vettel pulling away slightly in front of him. Generally, it was a quiet race for the Brazilian and were it not for Ferrari’s pit stop blunder, he most likely would have finished where he started.
No. 77 Valtteri Bottas
Form: DNS/5/6/4/4/14/3/5
Bottas qualified relatively out of position in sixth place behind Hulkenberg, with whom he ended up have a race-long battle. The Williams seemed to have the slight edge but with both cars running Mercedes power, they were evenly matched. Bottas eventually made his way through on the German, only to have his work undone thanks to his pit stop. Hulkenberg performed the undercut superbly, getting ahead of Bottas again. However, during the pit stop, Bottas almost came to blows with Max Verstappen’s Toro Rosso and then almost collected Hulkenberg’s Force India at the pit exit. However, the quiet Finn persevered and regained his position to come home a solid fifth.
It was a very good day for the Grove-based team with a double points finish, heading to their home race with lots of confidence. It looks as though Ferrari may well not be the only team challenging Mercedes for too long as Williams look to regain their 2014 form.
