Williams maximise performance

Williams converted their second row lock out into a solid third and fourth place finish.

After Valtteri Bottas had qualified third with Felipe Massa in fourth on Saturday, Williams confirmed the pair would be staying for next season.

It wasn’t the biggest shock of the season, Massa already had a contract in place for 2015, whilst it had been fully expected that Bottas would remain as Williams had a contract option on the Finnish driver.

‘We want stability. We just wanted to get the questions answered and keep our focus on next year. Williams deputy team principal Claire Williams told the BBC.

The Italian Grand Prix however was not as stable as Williams would have liked.

They may not have been expecting to challenge Mercedes at the front of the pack, but Felipe Massa found himself ahead of Lewis Hamilton after his poor start.

However Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas also had a poor start and he dropped down the grid from 3rd to 11th.

But in the drive of the day, he battled his way back up the pack to finish fourth, whilst Massa enjoyed a drama free afternoon to stand on the podium in front of his former Ferrari followers.

‘We finished where we should have done, although we did make it a bit more spectacular than we needed to. Williams head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley told formula1.com.

‘We had some issues with the starts which isn’t normal, so this needs to be investigated. Valtteri drove an incredible race to recover from 11th whilst managing his tyres.

‘Felipe had an incredible race too, using all his experience including a great overtaking manoeuvre on Magnussen to secure a fantastic result. It was great to see the fans reception for him as well.’

The result pushed Williams ahead of Ferrari in the Formula One constructors championship battle into third with 177 points ahead of Ferrari by 15 points.