After a competitive start to the year, Williams Martini Racing left the Monaco Grand Prix with no points, the first time the team has achieved this since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2013. The poor result means that Infiniti Red Bull Racing catch up to only 29 points behind.
Having come off the back of a fourth place in Spain, Valtteri Bottas struggled for pace around the streets of Monte Carlo. Having started in seventeenth, the race was always going to be hard. “This has been a tough weekend that ended in an even tougher race. We tried everything to try and get some points but with the pace we had it wasn’t possible today.”
“We tried the two-stop strategy which never really came to us, with the safety car coming at just the wrong time. There are not too many positives from the weekend but plenty we can learn from as to why we struggled.” But the 25 year old admitted that these results were likely a one off and the pace should improve.
Meanwhile team mate Felipe Massa felt his quest for points was finished by the end of the first lap, saying; “Today was a very frustrating day and a race to forget for us. My race was effectively over in Turn 1, with another car pushing me over and I was left with a lot of damage to my tyre and front wing.” He would have to pit as a result.
Nico Hulkenberg, the driver who he collided with would later crash as the result of an incident with Fernando Alonso at Mirabeau.
Massa went on to say; “The car has not had its usual performance all weekend but we know that we are heading to tracks in Canada and Austria that suit our car and we should be back fighting towards the front.” The Brazilian will be looking forward to Austria where he claimed his only pole from the 2014 season.
Meanwhile, Rob Smedley admitted; “We cannot return here in 2016 and repeat this performance. We now have to focus firmly on the next three races. We have a really good package and some healthy upgrades coming soon so we look forward to coming back stronger in Canada.”
