After years of midfield mediocrity, Williams finally made a welcome return to the front of the grid in 2014 – with their heavily revised engineering team and experienced driver recruit Felipe Massa leading them to third place in the constructors’ championship.
Overcoming a slow start to 2015 – partly due to Ferrari’s resurgence – Williams have began to find their way once again, with young star Valtteri Bottas and the back to his best Felipe Massa currently having one podium each this season – the Fin at Canada and the Brazilian at Austria.
The team’s mix of a low downforce car and the dominant Mercedes power unit means that the Grove-based outfit are extremely quick on the straights, but on the tight and twisty circuits like Monaco they pay the price – backed up by the fact that both cars finished outside of the points at the legendary circuit.
Felipe Massa remains the only non-Mercedes driver to have taken pole position in the new hybrid era, and Williams are the only other team besides the Silver Arrows to have locked out the front row – at the Austrian Grand Prix in 2014. The 34-year-old Brazilian also led a significant portion of the British Grand Prix earlier this season, but an over cautious pit wall – and lack of team orders at Silverstone – means that the 9 times constructors’ champions are still waiting for their first win since Pastor Maldonado’s victory at Catalunya three years ago.
Whilst the strategy calls remain questionable, Williams have hit the nail on the head when it comes to reliability. The team are yet to suffer a retirement this season, and indeed only once in the past two seasons has a reliability problem caused a retirement – Valtteri Bottas’ engine letting go at last year’s Monaco Grand Prix.
With the budget that Williams have to live within, the team are performing extremely well. Whilst strategy and wet weather performances need to be improved, the famous marque can be satisfied with what they have seen so far this year.
Felipe Massa: 74 points – 6th in the Drivers’ Championship
Despite entering his 13th season as a race driver in F1, Felipe appears to be back to his pre-2009 crash best. Luck has been against the Brazilian in his two years at Williams, but he has been a much stronger out and out pace match for his team mate in 2015.
The high-speed circuits of Spa and Monza are next on the calendar, and Massa will be desperate to utilise the straight line speed of the FW37 to take his first win since 2008 – when he lost the drivers’ championship in dramatic style.
Both Massa and Williams have praised the other, and if the Brazilian can keep up the level of performance that he has been showing then it seems very likely the veteran will continue at the team for a third season.
Valtteri Bottas: 77 points – 4th in the Drivers’ Championship
After topping the times on his first ever FP1 session in Barcelona three years ago, it was clear from the off that the 2011 GP3 series winner was something special. Now in his third Formula 1 season, the 25-year-old Fin has continued to impress.
Bottas missed the season opener in Australia due to a back injury sustained in qualifying, but has impressed in most of the races so far this season. Finishing in the points in all but two races that he has started, with a lowest points finish of sixth, is no mean feat in the tight midfield battle in Formula 1 at present.
Tipped as a Ferrari driver for next season, Bottas has got room to improve. He needs to fight harder in wheel to wheel battles, something particularly evident at Silverstone when he left the door open for Lewis Hamilton to reclaim second place at the start.
There were signs of a more feisty battler at Hungary, and at such a young age there is plenty of time for improvement.
