F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Williams has chance to reverse 2016 slide - Bottas

Valtteri Bottas says the new aerodynamic regulations give Williams the chance to reverse its 2016 slide having finished fifth in the constructors' championship.

Having delivered an efficient car design under new power unit regulations in 2014, Williams secured back-to-back third places as it beat Ferrari two years ago and then Red Bull last season. However, this year saw Force India leapfrog Williams to become best of the rest behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari.

Williams scored just 57 points in the final 13 rounds - having scored 81 points in the opening eight - but Bottas sees the new regulations as an opportunity to revers the slide.

"We still had some good races this year," Bottas said. "We had good moments, strong performances, but from the middle to the end of the season it has been tough.

"I think everyone in the team is not that happy about it, but we know that we need to work our way out of it. That will be the only way, the only thing we can do and we are, obviously, replying a lot that next year’s car will be fast and to bring it up there. It’s up to us!"

Having retired from the final race due to suspension problems, Bottas says finishing the season in such a manner simply increases his desire to get started in 2017.

"Obviously it’s a disappointing way to end the season, but we didn’t lose anything because of that. And now it’s another reason for me to just look forward to next year and I can’t wait, really. It’s a new season, with a new opportunity."

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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.