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Williams can get close to Mercedes - Bottas

Valtteri Bottas believes Williams can be close to Mercedes' pace at this weekend's Russian Grand Prix.

With Mercedes struggling on the soft and supersoft tyres in Singapore, Bottas was able to put pressure on Nico Rosberg in the battle for fourth place, while he was also less than half a second off pole position as he qualified third in Japan. Having finished on the podium at Sochi last year, Bottas feels Williams can be close to Mercedes once again.

"We had a good result last year in Russia so we’re expecting another strong weekend and a good collection of points," Bottas said. "We all know the track now and it has a really good flow, with the long straights a good fit for our car.

"The fans were passionate last year so we look forward to putting on another good show for them. Pace wise we were close to Mercedes in Japan and I think we can be close again in Sochi, just like we were in 2014."

Head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley says Williams has to focus on cementing its third place in the constructors' championship.

"The objectives for the Championship are fairly clear," Smedley said. "We are looking to reduce the gap to the teams in front and extend the gap to the teams behind and we hope to further realise those goals in Russia. The facilities in Sochi are excellent considering it’s a new track and we are hoping for another good race, with plenty of overtaking like last year.

"The track has some quick straights and low speed corners, so the compromise on downforce has to be correct. Sochi is a circuit that suits our car with high power and drag sensitivities. We managed to have a good weekend last year from a performance point of view and we will be looking to build on this."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.