• United States Grand Prix - Williams

Bottas admits 'big relief' at first points

ESPN Staff
November 17, 2013 « New chassis made the difference - Hamilton | Vergne hit with time penalty for Gutierrez clash »
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Valtteri Bottas admitted to his relief at finally scoring his first points in Formula One in the United States Grand Prix.

Williams had scored just one point all season as it experiences one of the worst years in its history, with Bottas finally breaking his duck at the penultimate race. While Bottas admitted he was pleased to get his first points, he said the progress the team had made over the last few races was especially encouraging.

"It's a very big relief," Bottas said. "It's better late to get the points than never, so I'm very happy. I think that the whole weekend we've done the right directions with the car set-up and the changes we made in Abu Dhabi that help us a bit more here. Come Sunday we still performed really well, we had a good strategy, good pit stop, and good start so I'm very happy for us as a team. I think it's very important to get at least some points."

Asked how important it was that he now had scored more points than team-mate Pastor Maldonado, Bottas replied: "That's very nice as well, definitely!"

Williams has seen an upturn in form since it ditched its Coanda-effect exhausts, and Bottas admitted it was strange that the car had improved as a result.

"It is weird, we really thought we were gaining something from the previous exhaust and we were trying to develop it to make it better because that's the direction every other team has taken. But it was a good decision to try it in Abu Dhabi but it's easier to say after that we should have tried it before. It's better to understand everything later than not at all

"It's more consistent, more predictable. Before we were sometimes in the middle of the corner and getting some sort of snaps from the rear end and it didn't happen every lap, so … Now also the straight line speed is a bit better, I think pure traction is the only downside of it but what we gain in a straight line that overcomes that loss."

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