Bottas reassuring about Williams F1 potential

Valtteri Bottas successfully entered the world of F1 by dominating his teammate Pastor Maldonado in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix and managing to reach the finish unlike his Venezuelan teammate. However, Williams F1 Team was clearly behind since the FW35s were unable to fight for a top ten. The rookie from the Grove team is nevertheless reassuring about the potential for progression of his mount before the second race of the season at Sepang.

“I learned a lot in my first Grand Prix, it was tough but I didn’t encounter any big problems,” commented the Finn in the Malaysian GP paddock. “Obviously we would have preferred to finish in a better position (14th), but it wasn’t a bad race for me. I won't go into details but we understand better what went wrong. The car has potential, we just need to exploit it more. We have already sorted out some things for this Grand Prix and we will see a little better tomorrow where we are. »

Pastor Maldonado experienced a disastrous weekend in Australia, only qualifying in 18th position on the starting grid in Melbourne before retiring from the race following an exit from the track. Valtteri Bottas was thus able to gain confidence but the Finn remains aware that he lacks experience and his objective will above all be to continue to set the pace of his teammate. “Pastor is a very good reference, he is a fast driver who is in his third season with Williams. So it’s definitely a good thing for me to compare myself to him and see if I can learn certain things. I hope we will be close and that I can improve to be faster. »