Valtteri Bottas admitted his disappointment to have only finished ninth at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday, with the Finn struggling to get the Pirelli tyres to work all race long that resulted him finishing a lap down on race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas had gone into the race confident that both he and team-mate Felipe Massa could finish inside the top five, but with Massa retiring and Bottas only ninth, it was not the race the Williams Martini Racing team were hoping for.
The Finnish driver was made to work hard for his position over the closing laps, with Manor Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein and Haas F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez finishing on his tail, and Bottas knows it is important for the team to understand their troubles quickly, with similar weather conditions possible next weekend at Silverstone.
“We definitely expected more points today,” said Bottas. “The main problem was getting the tyres to work and to last, so that is something we need to understand before Silverstone because the temperatures could be similar to what they were here today.
“I don’t think our car was too bad this weekend, we just really struggled to get the tyres to work. It was a disappointing day, but it’s going to be very important to learn from today to move on.”
