Valtteri Bottas felt positive about the outcome of Friday practice at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace as the Williams Martini Racing driver finished fifth in the opening session and third in the second.
The Grove-based team traditionally do not show their hand until later in the weekend, and Bottas admitted surprise that they were so high up the order so early, although he knows there is still work to be done to improve the set-up.
The Finn hopes Williams can show much better pace than they did in Mexico last time out, where he and Felipe Massa finished eighth and ninth, in between the two Sahara Force India F1 Team drivers Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Perez.
“For a Friday, it was good,” admitted Bottas. “The balance was quite good in the first run, so it has just been fine tuning after that. The long runs were consistent, the car feels ok and the pace seems promising.
“But it’s only Friday so, like every weekend, we will need to find a lot more for tomorrow because everyone else will improve as well. I’m happy with today, but it’s tomorrow and Sunday that count.
“I think we can be more competitive than we were in the last race, but it’s difficult to say in detail after practice because everyone is trying different things.”
