07/09/2014
NEWS STORY
Felipe Massa achieved his first podium for Williams as Valtteri Bottas finished in fourth position in today's Italian Grand Prix.
Felipe was up to third after the first lap, with a Mercedes and McLaren in front, whilst Valtteri suffered from wheel spin and slipped to 11th. Valtteri fought hard through the field both before and after his pitstop, whilst Felipe established himself in third. The result takes Williams into third in the Constructors' Championship moving ahead of Ferrari.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: We finished where we should have done, although we did make it a bit more spectacular than we needed to. We had some issues with the starts which isn't normal, so this needs to be investigated. Valtteri drove an incredible race to recover from 11th whilst managing his tyres. Felipe had an incredible race too, using all his experience including a great overtaking manoeuvre on Magnussen to secure a fantastic result. It was great to see the fans reception for him as well.
Felipe Massa: It was a fantastic race for me so I am really happy. I had a good start and passed Magnussen at just the right time. I had to work hard to establish that position, sadly the Mercedes were still a bit quick, so we did the best we could. Monza is a special podium, and to hear the fans sing my name was amazing.
Valtteri Bottas: I had a few issues at the start which really effected how my race went. Once the tyres were up to temperature I had a lot of work to do. It was good fun to overtake so many people and we had some good pace as well. As a team we had a really good day and it was good to overtake Ferrari. I'm pleased to see Felipe get his first podium of the season, hopefully we can be up there together soon.
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