Valtteri Bottas: Williams struggling to make improvements, even with updates
Williams F1 driver Valtteri Bottas says the team are still struggling to produce any gains on track after last weekend’s British Grand Prix, despite the fact they’ve seen multiple updates installed on the FW38.
If the weekend at Silverstone was unfriendly enough to the team, where Bottas finished in 14th and teammate Felipe Massa ended the day in 11th, this week’s second in-season test session at the circuit didn’t make things any easier for the team, he said.
Over the course of 98 laps, Bottas and the Williams team tested a total of three different front wings on their car. Bottas managed to post the sixth-fastest time of Wednesday’s sessions. The double-decker rear wing, which was first test piloted by Massa in Spain, made a reappearance late in the day.
After failing to score a point in a race for the first time last weekend at Silverstone, the Williams team were hopeful they’d be provided with some answers, and improvements, during the two-day practice session.
“We are honestly still struggling to see big differences as we would like,” Bottas said to Autosport after Wednesday’s session. “We were predicting bigger gains, but at the moment we’re struggling a little bit to put it directly as downforce and lap time.”
Bottas added that the team made a few discoveries, though they will provide more help in the long-run, not in the interim.
The infamous double-decker rear wing, which is outside the current regulations in terms of spec, was previously run in Barcelona for a day-and-a-half. At Silverstone, it was seen on track for only the last hour of the session.
“It’s adding downforce,” Bottas said.
“The main thing is trying to fine tune the balance a bit better, and how much we gain with ‘x’ amount of downforce, especially in cornering conditions because that is the weakness we have at the moment – cornering grip.”
Bottas added that aero updates for the FW38 are coming, currently lined up for installation for the final two races in Hungary and Germany before the summer break.
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