Software issue hampers Williams in qualifying

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Williams has revealed both Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were hampered by software issues during qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix.

Massa was actually quickest in Q1 after needing an extra set of supersofts to progress, and both drivers made it through to the final part of qualifying. However, Bottas could only qualify eighth - behind both Force Indias - and Massa was slowest of the ten runners after a lock-up at La Source.

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Williams confirmed after the session that both of its cars were hurt by an engine software issue, which Mercedes High Performance Powertrains (HPP) is now investigating. The team says the problem prevented it from running its qualifying mode and cost it lap time, estimating Bottas should have qualified in sixth place ahead of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.

Although hampered by the issue in qualifying, Williams is confident the problem will have no impact on its race pace.

Williams is currently locked in a tight battle with Force India for fourth place in the constructors' championship this season, holding just a 15-point advantage in the standings ahead of this weekend's race.

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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.