Valtteri Bottas was delighted to claim his and his Williams Martini Racing team’s first podium finish of 2015 in Canada on Sunday, finishing third and as best of the rest behind the dominant Mercedes-duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.
The Finn capitalised on a mistake by Scuderia Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen to move up into the podium places, and had the pace to keep the gap to the second Finn on the grid until the chequered flag.
Bottas praised his team for their efforts, and felt that the risk to run a one-stop strategy was key to him finishing inside the top three.
“We really maximised everything today and I’m really happy for us as a team,” said Bottas. “We had an opportunity to get third and we took it.
“We had the chance to change the strategy in the middle of the race and go for one stop instead of two. We knew it could be a risk but the team knew what to do and we were right.
“There was not much threat from behind so we could take a bit of a risk, and I’m really proud that we did. We were racing hard today and we earned the podium.
“It’s great to be back in the top three and we know there are better Grand Prix to come because of the updates we are bringing so I can’t wait for the next few races.”
