Arguably the driver of the day on Sunday was Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.
The Williams driver went on to finish the Australian Grand Prix in sixth position, a result which was later improved to fifth following the late disqualification of Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo.
Throughout winter testing the new Williams powered by Mercedes had looked one of the more reliable and quick cars in the paddock.
And after Friday’s free practice one session, it looked like Williams would enjoy a strong weekend with Valtteri Bottas setting the third fastest time and Felipe Massa the fourth.
But from then onwards Williams slipped down the timing sheets.
FP2 saw Bottas a second off the pace in eighth, whilst Massa was twelfth.
FP3 saw Massa fall to two seconds off the pace, with Bottas failing to set a time.
A recovery of sorts on the damp Australian track in qualifying saw Felipe Massa qualify ninth and Valtteri Bottas tenth.
However once the race got under way the Williams once again looked strong with Valtteri Bottas battling his way up the field and looking stronger than the likes of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen.
It didn’t look like anything could stop his charge up the field until he clipped the wall, ripping his right rear tyre off.
He managed to coast back to the pits and the charge began again, with no long lasting damage done to the car.
Williams Deputy Team Principal Claire Williams told Sky Sports:I think he overtook more than 20 cars during the race today which was phenomenal,’
On earning more points in one race than the team achieved in the entire 2013 season she added: ‘It was fantastic, We entered the weekend with a lot of high hopes and there was a lot of expectation on us from the media as well, but we were really trying to dampen that a bit and not get anyone’s hopes up too high.
‘But particularly after qualifying it was really disappointing for everyone – last season if we had got two cars in the top ten you wouldn’t have thought we’d be disappointed – but coming into the race today we were hoping that both cars would get some strong points. It was so disappointing for Felipe to be knocked out at the first corner, but Valtteri drove such an amazing race today.’
Bottas told formula1.com: ‘I’m a little disappointed with myself because I was pushing a bit too hard and hit the wall which caused a puncture and put me back a long way. I spent the rest of the race trying to make up for that mistake and managed to make some good overtakes, but I need to learn from this and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
‘It felt great to be able to race hard with people around me and I want to say a big thank you to the race team and everyone back at Grove and Brixworth who have done a great job with this car.’
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