The Chinese Grand Prix was ultimately disappointing for the Williams Martini Racing team, despite Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas finishing fifth and sixth around the Shanghai International Circuit. The team were well adrift of the four drivers ahead of them in the race, with the gap exceeding half a minute at times.
Massa felt he got the best out of his Williams to finish fifth, but was disappointed with the gap to the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers ahead of him. He admits the team are struggling for raw speed at present.
“We had a good race today and I managed to get the most out of the car,” said Massa. “The team performed very well but we just don’t have the raw speed to catch the cars in front.
“I will work on my start as that is really the only thing that went wrong for us. We have scored the most amount of points available to us today.”
Team-mate Bottas had a quiet race to sixth, and admitted he was struggling with the pace of his Williams throughout the race. He was also disappointed to lose position to fellow Finn Kimi Raikkonen so early in the race, and lose touch with those in front of him.
“It was a lonely race for me today,” said Bottas. “I struggled for race pace throughout, but as a team we got the best result we could have achieved.
“I would have liked to have kept Kimi behind for longer after getting in front of him at the start, but he made a good move on me to retake the position. There is quite a bit of work to do to catch the cars ahead, but it’s only race three, so there is plenty of time.”
