Williams once again errs in strategy
Williams tried a two-stop strategy for Valtteri Bottas, but it didn't work, as the Finn lost two places at the end of the race to finish 9th. Felipe Massa was involved in a collision with Jolyon Palmer at the first corner, forcing him to retire midway through the race.
This is becoming a recurring theme, yet there seems to be no solution. Once again, Williams made headlines with a risky strategy. Another example comes from Valtteri Bottas’s race. The Finn attempted a two-stop strategy while most of the pack banked on three pit stops. As a result, while Nico Hülkenberg left the pits 15 seconds behind the Williams driver, he had no trouble closing the gap and even finished with a significant lead.
Valtteri Bottas was clearly questioning the chosen strategy as he also had to give in to Jenson Button’s comeback, settling for ninth place: « The race was going well until Force India managed to overtake us with the undercut. They were on a three-stop strategy, and we attempted a two-stop strategy. There was clearly something wrong with our tire calculations because it was clearly impossible to go all the way with that set of tires. The stint was simply too long, and it cost us points today. »
Rob Smedley, the head of performance at Williams, had to acknowledge that the team had not favored its driver: « With Valtteri, we tried a strategy that clearly didn’t work. We used the wrong tactics during the race. It’s something we need to learn from. As a group of people, we usually make the right choices but not today. We thought the tires would last until the end, and that was not the case. »
For Felipe Massa, the race was heavily compromised from the first corner since he was hit by Jolyon Palmer. This caused significant damage that could not be repaired during the race. The Brazilian was therefore forced to retire again, continuing his current bad streak, which has seen him score only two points in seven races: *It’s such a shame that someone hit me in the first lap because I clearly felt something was wrong in that area of the car. The car felt undrivable. Even though I tried to continue the race, I was suffering a lot. I was just too slow, and at some point, it was better to retire than to continue.*
Upon returning from vacation, Williams will need to pay attention to the comeback of Sahara Force India, which is now only sixteen points behind in the Constructors’ Championship.
