Test results could help Williams race pace - Bottas

Valtteri Bottas believes the findings from the Silverstone test could help Williams improve its race pace this season.

Williams has scored just one podium so far this season and recent poor form has seen the team come under pressure from Force India for fourth in the constructors' championship. Bottas was driving on the second day of the test at Silverstone on Wednesday and says some race simulations in the morning session yielded "some interesting results" for the team.

“It was a straightforward day of testing," Bottas said. "Apart from the shower we had in the afternoon we got everything done.

“The morning was actually very good. We focused on high-fuel longer runs, trying to find different aero bits, if there could be something with the race pace which we have been struggling with in the last few races.

“We tried different front wings to get better answers from those, and then some mechanical tests – still with high fuel – after lunch, and we definitely got some interesting results, some ways to keep the tyres in a little bit better condition in these conditions.

“In the afternoon there was some interesting aero stuff to simulate some different conditions with the car, different kinds of downforce levels, different corners etc, so it was all cool.”

And Bottas is confident the way Williams carried out its running allowed it to see the progress it made.

“It was a good feeling. We just did longer runs, and consistency was the key for me today as a driver. We started with the balance we had in the race weekend, and there was a bit of a different wind direction compared to that of the weekend.

“But balance-wise we made very few adjustments, and the overall feeling was definitely we improved some things a little bit. Small steps at a time, there’s still a long season to go. It was definitely an important test for us.”

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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.