Amazingly, despite both cars being out of position in qualifying, and both being involved in contact during the race, Williams already have twice the amount of points that they scored in 2013 (subject to Daniel Ricciardo’s appeal).
What we did see from Williams during the race though, was that, in Valtteri Bottas’ hands at least, is that the car is quick, extremely quick. The team feel as if they have one of the best brake-by-wire systems on the grid, and Bottas was able to use this to pull off some fantastic overtaking moves, including around the outside of Jean-Eric Vergne and on fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen, both into the very tricky turn 3.
Valterri Bottas, being disappointed with fifth place, his best finish in Formula One to date, shows how far the team have come since last year. The FW36 is clearly right in that battle for the second best car behind Mercedes. We are yet to really see the qualifying pace of the car, with it having struggled in the rain. It did however, look very quick on the straights, as you would expect from the Mercedes-powered car. There’s a big question as to whether Bottas would have finished on the podium had he not sheered the tyre off the car or not. I think he would have. So we know what to expect for Malaysia.
Felipe Massa also showed very strong pace in practice for the race. He clearly looked very annoyed following his retirement from his first race for Williams (and his first race using an engine which is not a Ferrari or rebadged Ferrari), but he can take away positives in that he arguably has a faster car than his old team who dumped him at the end of last year. It will be good to see him having clean, fair fights with his old teammates Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, should he not get taken out by Kobayashi again.
The car is not bulletproof, however. Bottas took a grid drop for an unscheduled gearbox change, the only driver to do so, leaving him even further down the field. Despite this setback, he was in the points by the end of the first lap.
The Sepang International Circuit has some very long straights as well as some heavy braking zones. These are all things that we have seen the Williams be very good at already, so expect them to be right at the front (behind Mercedes, obviously), arguably where they should have been at Melbourne. “Everything is possible now and looking how we are compared to the others, I would say Mercedes is for the moment too quick compared to us. But I think maybe after Mercedes, everything is open and maybe we can be there.” Felipe Massa told Sky Sports.
In terms of car development, the car seems to have issues in the downforce area. This may explain the struggling in the rain, and arguably Bottas struggling to keep the car under control before his accident. Despite Albert Park being a high-downforce circuit, Williams showed good pace there, though. This will possibly hurt them more at tracks like the Circuit de Catalunya, Monte Carlo, as well as in the rain, as we have seen already.
It is quite difficult to tell exactly where they are though compared to the others. It was a crazy race with a wet qualifying, a safety car, and multiple retirements from top teams. Perhaps Malaysia will provide more answers.
The car looks and sounds great. They have a great mix of youth and experience, not just in the driver line-up. They simply just didn’t deliver in Melbourne. They will have to pick up some serious points soon, before the likes of Ferrari, and Red Bull, catch up, and if they want to keep on the tail of McLaren, who currently leads the standings, even ahead of Mercedes.
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