Bottas' P5 keeps Williams-Force India battle alive

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Thanks to Valtteri Bottas' very good fifth place finish at Sepang, Williams is holding on to Force India in the teams' monumental fight for fourth in the Constructors' championship.

Bottas and Williams banked on a daring one-stop strategy which the Finn carried out perfectly to insure its strong top ten result.

Bottas enjoyed a clean getaway at the start but just narrowly missed the spun and stranded Mercedes of Nico Rosberg before running as high as P5 as others pitted under the VSC.

The Finn made is only pit stop on lap 28 after a strong opening run on the Medium tyres and before rejoining the race in P8.

A steady run brought Bottas back up to P5, crucially finishing ahead of Force India's Sergio Perez.

"I think it was a very good day for us," Bottas said.

"All the cars around had more pace in the beginning, on the Soft tyre. But we knew that after a few laps it would equal out and then we would have the advantage, having the opportunity to make a longer stint and possibly try to make a one-stop work.

"I'm pleased we could make it work; it was a bit risky, but 100 per cent worth it."

In the end, Bottas felt he had made the most of his afternoon of racing.

"Finishing in 5^th place after starting from 11^th place it’s pretty much everything we could expect from today.

"We could really execute the Plan A, so that was good, everything went as planned and a couple of DNF’s helped us.

"It was definitively not easy with the medium tyres as they were overheating but with the hard tyres I could push quite a lot more than we thought would be possible, so that was OK.

"We scored some good points. It’s a shame that we lost points with Felipe’s technical issues, but from my side I’m happy with the race. Let’s try and repeat this in Japan."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.