Following three podiums on the bounce for Valtteri Bottas, all eyes were on him at Budapest, as many were wondering how he would perform on a circuit which would supposedly not play into the Williams Racing FW36’s strengths. Conversely, a lot of eyes were on Felipe Massa too as he was involved in two first-lap incidents at the two previous events, and he needed a result. He certainly got it.
The fast-flowing maximum downforce nature really should not have played at all well into the hands of the Williams, with very little in the way of straight and a lot of corners meaning that the straight-line advantage that the Williams is turned into a disadvantage as they have less speed through the corners. So to come away with fourteen points, which is just four less than the last two races, isn’t too bad. However, they did lose third in the Constructors’ Championship to Ferrari at this stage.
Williams Hungarian GP
No. 19 Felipe Massa (BRA)
Grid: P6
Race: P5
Traffic meant that Massa was a whole second behind his team mate in qualifying, but a solid start, and a bit of help from the safety car elevated him right to the front of the pack. An unusual strategy saw Massa use two sets of mediums, but nonetheless, he ended up P5, his second best result of the season. Strictly speaking, the medium wasn’t the right tyre to be on, so it would have been interesting to see whether Massa could have challenged for a podium if he was on the soft tyre.
No. 77 Valtteri Bottas (FIN)
Grid: P3
Race: P8
An excellent lap saw Bottas place the car into third on the grid. An equally excellent start saw Bottas second before the safety car come out, and the timing of the car and a dreadful stop saw Bottas come out outside of the points. From then on it was a recovery drive, but he could manage no better than eighth as he struggled to overtake the Red Bull of Sebastian Vettel. Probably a weekend to forget for the Finn, but Spa and Monza should be very good for Williams.
Williams have 134 points more than what they had at this point last year, which is a truly exceptional transformation. Given that the team are still only in what is essentially a transition year, the results have almost come instantly. They have probably the second fastest car at the moment and they need to make sure that they don’t slip behind Red Bull and Ferrari and possibly McLaren in the development race over the summer, which will be tough, but Williams have surprised many already this year.
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