Categories: F1 News, Reports and Race ResultsWilliams

Bottas keen to beat 'quicker' Raikkonen

Valtteri Bottas says beating Kimi Raikkonen in the drivers' championship would be a big achievement for Williams as the Ferrari is quicker this year.

Ferrari has made a big step forward compared to 2014 and managed three victories courtesy of Sebastian Vettel, with the four-time world champion securing third in the standings behind the two Mercedes drivers. Raikkonen has been less consistent than his team-mate, however, and currently sits one point behind fourth-placed Bottas.

With the two Finns so closely matched heading in to the final race in Abu Dhabi this weekend, Bottas says it would be a big deal for a Williams to beat one of the Ferraris.

"I think that, for Williams as a team, the main thing would be to finish ahead of a quicker car in the championship," Bottas said. "It would be nice. Like I’ve said in to many similar questions, for me it doesn’t change at all if it’s Kimi or someone else I’m fighting with for that position.

"As a driver I just want to get every possible position. With what we have, with the car we have and with what we’re doing as a team, I want to get the maximum out of it and the highest possible position in the championship."

However, Bottas says beating Raikkonen on track is likely to be a tall order with Ferrari having pulled clear in terms of race pace as Williams focuses on its 2016 car.

"I want to have a good race here. It would be nice to finish the race high up, hopefully even on the podium. I think this track shouldn’t be too bad for us, but Ferrari has been very quick on Sundays, lately. We need to see if we have enough pace to challenge them."

Unfinished business: the scores still to be settled in Abu Dhabi

Chris Medland's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix preview

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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.