Bottas had “one of his best races”

The colors of Williams Martini Racing had not been seen on a podium since the Mexican Grand Prix in 2015, with the third place of Valtteri Bottas. It was once again the Finn, already third in Canada in 2015, who brought Frank Williams' team back into the top 3, at the end of a race where the efficiency of Grove's men in the pits was again played an important role.

“Today's result did not come easily,” admits Bottas. I really thank the team for the decisions made to commit to a one-stop strategy. The passage through the pits was again very quick. We need more of these kinds of results. It’s definitely one of my best races. »

The FW38 showed itself to its advantage on a circuit that was always demanding in terms of engine, after having suffered on the Monaco turnstile. Enough to give good hope for the clan of Rob Smedley, responsible for performance.

“We lost a little time against the leading pack and we beat Red Bull which is very positive, specifies the former resident of the Team Ferrari. The strategy was perfect. When other teams were doing two stops, we stuck to our one-stop strategy as planned, and it all worked out very well for us.

Valtteri had a great race. There is, however, a little bitter aftertaste with the fact that we could have had both cars at the finish. » Felipe Massa was indeed forced to retire, with critical temperatures on his Power Unit Mercedes, forcing Williams to stop the Brazilian.

Discover the full report and analysis of the Canadian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Montreal, in issue 2067 of AUTOhebdo, available from 22 p.m. this evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.