F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Bottas: Williams ‘lucky’ with Singapore damage limitation

Valtteri Bottas admits Williams is “lucky” to leave Singapore only one point adrift of Force India in the Constructors’ championship, given the speed advantage the latter had over the former at Marina Bay Circuit.

Williams slipped back to fifth in the standings after failing to score for the second time this year. However, Force India, which saw both its drivers outqualify Bottas and team-mate Felipe Massa, could not fully capitalise on Williams’ difficult weekend.

Sergio Pérez was demoted to the back of the grid after taking an eight-place grid penalty for yellow flag infringements in Q2, while Nico Hulkenberg’s race lasted less than 100m before the German was pitched into the wall.

“I think we were kind of lucky.” Bottas said. “Both Felipe and I had bad races, even in his case the pace wasn’t there, but one of the Force India retired and Pérez, starting from the back was only eighth.

“We were lucky but it was also a missed opportunity to get a bigger gap over them. The difference now between the two teams is next to none, there are a few good races to come for us, so it’s going to be a good fight.”

Having uninterruptedly featured in the points since the British Grand Prix, Bottas’ streak ended due to a cascade of issues.

“I had a good start but almost immediately I had to brake as Hulkenberg and a Toro Rosso touched and Nico went across the track into the pit wall right in front of me,” the Finn added.

“Then, just before Turn One, Button hit me hard on the back, lost his front wing and punctured my left rear tyre. I was avoiding the collision and we touched… The damaged tyre broke parts of the floor of the car, so I lost a lot of downforce and everything went wrong after that.”

Bottas remained however tight-lipped on the incident that saw his seatbelt become loose halfway through the 61-lap night contest.

“I cannot say anything about that. We are still investigating what happened. It was not ideal but I cannot say anything else about it.”

Quotes of the week - 2016 Singapore Grand Prix

2016 Singapore Grand Prix - Driver ratings

REPORT: Rosberg takes title lead after Singapore thriller 

Breakfast with ... Bernd Maylander

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Sebastian Montoya steps up to Formula 2 with Prema

Sebastian Montoya, the 19-year-old son of former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, is set…

8 hours ago

Sauber finds its ‘Northern Star’ under Binotto’s leadership

When former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto took on the role of Chief Operating Officer…

10 hours ago

Leclerc hails a season ‘without missed opportunities' in 2024

Charles Leclerc concluded the 2024 F1 season with a sense of satisfaction, the Ferrari driver…

11 hours ago

Coulthard sounds alarm over FIA president’s rift with F1 drivers

Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has voiced his dismay at FIA president Mohammed Ben…

13 hours ago

The rapid rise and fall of Super Aguri in F1

Super Aguri's application to join Formula 1 became a reality on this day in 2005,…

14 hours ago

Ferrari's 2024 Season: Marked improvement and a fight to the finish

Ferrari roared back into contention in 2024 to deliver their strongest season in years, thanks…

15 hours ago