The performance achieved in other editions of the GP of Austria invited the optimism within the team Williams, but the reality is imposed at the Red Bull Ring. Lack of pace during the entire race, the british group came up with on a Sunday, the against for its two pilots. While Valtteri Bottas managed to add two points to reach the ninth position, Felipe Massa had a day to forget. The brazilian had to start the race from the pitlane to perceive the computer structural damage to his front wing. This bad start resulted in a a new abandonment for Massa.
Valtteri Bottas had big problems with the graining, which led him to fight for positions more delayed than expected. Although the finn started in the seventh position, the lack of pace led to him having to settle for ninth position: “Definitely we had expected more points today. The main problem was to get the perfect temperature for the tyres to work and have a term logic, something that we haven’t gotten any at all. We have to understand that is what has happened to us because at Silverstone the ambient temperature and the asphalt will be very similar to the one we had here today”.
In this aspect, Valtteri Bottas has wanted to focus on his lack of pace in problems with the gums, leaving aside the possibility that the car was not competitive: “I don’t think our car was so bad this weekend, it really cost us is to get the tires to come to work. Was a disappointing day, but it’s going to be very important to learn from today and be stronger from here on out”.
More dramatic was the race of Felipe Massa since that started and finished in the box. The brazilian driver had to start from the pitlane because of the structural damage that I had on the front wing and ended up abandoning the race with problems in the brakes. Even so, Massa believes that the pace of the FW38 was not being bad: “The race went more or less well for me, because I was fighting and winning positions from the beginning. The truth is that, despite starting from the pitlane he had a very good pace for almost the entire race“.
the time to explain all their problems, Felipe Massa analyzed: “unfortunately I had a puncture and I had to enter in to the garage to mount a new set of tires. He had been managing the temperature of the brakes throughout the race, but after exiting the pit lane I had to shoot very close to Esteban Gutierrez for several laps in a row. at The end of the brake temperature rose even more and we had to stop“.
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