Following on from his first podium appearance in Austria, Valtteri Bottas found himself on the podium again after a drive worthy of a World Champion. The Williams was surprisingly strong at Silverstone, cementing that they arguably now have the second fastest car after the Mercedes. With some similar characteristics to the Red Bull Ring here, Williams should go pretty well. However, with the FRIC suspension systems being more regulated and some teams taking them off, the order could well be shaken up a touch here.
Williams haven’t had a victory here since Juan Pablo Montoya took a very good win here in 2003; they also won two years prior, with Ralf Schumacher. Generally they have a decent record here, but they failed to pick up any points during their last visit back in 2012 with Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado. They’ll be hoping for at least a decent haul of points here, which is now becoming the norm for the team that picked up just five points in all of last season. Could there be another Williams German GP win in store?
No. 19 Felipe Massa – 10th
Form: 13/7/12/4/R
2012 (Driving for Ferrari): Grid: P13, Race: P12
Unfortunately for Massa his race at Silverstone ended prematurely following Kimi Raikkonen’s accident. This now moves him much further behind Bottas in the Championship. The Brazilian needs to start picking up points, and now trails in podiums 2-0 also. His race here last time round was a complete shocker, having finished outside of the points while Fernando Alonso, his team mate, won the race. He will be trying to avenge his 2010 race where he was so cruelly denied a race win due to the infamous message, “Fernando is faster than you.”
No. 41 Susie Wolff (GBR)
Wolff will be driving in Free Practice 1 again this weekend, and will be hoping to complete much more than the four laps she done at Silverstone.
No. 77 Valtteri Bottas (FIN) – 5th
Form: 5/R/7/3/2
2012: Drove in Free Practice 1 only
Bottas had a few eyebrow-raising moments in 2013, and in 2014 he is beginning to deliver eyebrow-raising moments on a consistent basis. With two podiums in two races, including a stunning drive from 14th to second at Silverstone, Bottas is very quickly challenging for ‘best of the rest’ in the standings behind the two Mercedes drivers. His form is one of the strongest in the field, and has also been looking very good in qualifying bar a few errors here and there. These are areas that he can still improve on, especially as Massa is no slouch when it comes to delivering on a Saturday.
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