Williams buoyed by closer gap to Ferrari

Valtteri Bottas says he is happy to see Williams “much closer to Ferrari”, as the Finn managed to keep at bay Kimi Raikkonen in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix to secure P4.

After holding off Sebastian Vettel at Sakhir three weeks ago, this is the second consecutive race where Bottas manages to finish ahead of a Ferrari and just outside the podium positions.

“It reminded me a lot of Bahrain really, trying to keep Vettel behind,” he said. “It was the same situation just a smaller period of time. I was just trying to make sure again I was getting good exits for the main straight and back straight because unlike other places it’s quite difficult to overtake here. Not making mistakes was important.

“I think a really positive race overall because we are much closer to Ferrari than any other race. The updates we brought here are small but it seems like we are definitely doing the right things.”

Team-mate Felipe Massa also had an eventful afternoon at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Having qualified only ninth, the Brazilian enjoyed a great start and quickly worked his way up the order during his opening stint.

Although he could not quite match Raikkonen’s race pace, Massa is also pleased with the car developments that have been brought to his Mercedes-powered FW37. The 34-year-old thinks these evolutions have allowed Williams to catch up Ferrari while also pulling away from Red Bull.

“The race was good,” said Massa. “Looking at where I started and the race, I think it was a good result for us. We were in the fight with Ferrari and had a good gap to Red Bull.

“We did not have a big upgrade here, but everything we brought we used and is giving what we expected”

Click here for Sunday's gallery from the Spanish Grand Prix

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