Spa 'normally good for us', predicts Bottas

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Valtteri Bottas has predicted a good weekend for Williams at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, explaining that the sweeping long high-speed corers at Spa-Francorchamps favour the team's chassis and Mercedes hybrid power plant.

"It’s normally quite a good track for us," said Bottas of the 4.352-mile, 20-turn located deep within the trees of the Ardennes forest.

"We were on the podium there in 2014, so that’s a good memory.

"I’ve also had quite a bit of success in Belgium with Formula Renault, Formula 3 and GP3 so it’s always one of the best tracks to go to for me," he added.

"It’s definitely one of the best circuits in the world so I’m really looking forward to going back.

"This is definitely one of my favourite tracks, mainly because of the high speed corners. It’s extremely enjoyable to drive.

"The only thing with Belgium is that the weather can be quite unpredictable across the weekend."

Williams' tyre choice at Spa sees Bottas and his team mate Felipe Massa both issued with seven sets each of Pirelli's SuperSoft compound, a choice possibly reflecting the team's initial expectations for cool and possibly wet weather weather.

However the latest forecasts suggest that Friday will be relatively hot and sunny during free practice, while Saturday remains hot but increasingly humid with a risk of thundery showers.

Sunday's race is currently expected to be sunny with temperatures around 25C/80F.

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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.