Williams: Bottas wants to beat Massa in 2014

For his first season in Formula 1, even if the results were not necessarily up to expectations with only one finish in the points in 19 Grand Prix at Austin, Valtteri Bottas believes he has proven his worth. With an identical car, the Finn regularly outpaced his teammate, Pastor Maldonado – 12/7 in qualifying and 1 each in terms of races finished in the points, but 4/1 in terms of points.

« We didn’t have a number 1 driver at Williams this season – even though I was a rookie and Pastor had two years of experience, we were treated equally. Obviously, it was nice to have the same car but with less experience, I was able to outperform my teammate in qualifying and the drivers’ championship, » Bottas said on the official F1 website.

Even though he believes that staying with the Williams team was his only option, the native of Nastola feels he earned his spot through good performances throughout the year – and even before: You always need to earn your place in Formula 1. There are thousands of drivers who want to come to F1 – so you really have to deserve your place against strong competition. So I am really very happy to have achieved that: I’ve earned my place and I will drive for Williams again next year! It shows that the team really has confidence in me […]. It’s fantastic to see how much the entire Williams team has trusted me for years now, first as a test driver, then in the main seat, and now with another year with the team. It makes me humble and grateful because without Williams, I wouldn’t be in Formula 1, so I hope we will have a long and successful future together.

Bottas will have a new teammate in 2014 in the person of Felipe Massa and he believes that the Brazilian’s experience could be a great help for the team: Obviously next year, I will have a new teammate – Felipe Massa. I think for us as a team, Felipe’s arrival at this time is a good thing. He has a lot of experience and probably comes with different ideas and visions which could help us. He was almost a world champion – at least for 30 seconds – so it’s going to be interesting – and he seems to be a good person so I’m looking forward to working with him.

But his personal goal is simple, to do as with Pastor Maldonado, to beat him: « I met him at the Williams announcement, but we will have time this winter to get to know each other better and exchange ideas. I have no doubt that he is fast, but the nature of Formula 1—and particularly the nature of a relationship between teammates—is that you have to be faster than him. I’m no exception to this rule! But we also need to work together to move the team forward. »