- Jerez Test - Day One
Bottas: Williams FW37 already better than predecessor
Valtteri Bottas says the FW37 is already a step up from last year's Williams after he overcame a slow start to record an encouraging start to 2015 winter testing.
Williams unveiled its new car in the morning of the first day at Jerez but only completed five laps before lunch. But the afternoon was much more successful for Bottas, who extended his mileage to 73 laps, finishing the day in fifth.
At the end of 2014 Williams was the closest team to world champions Mercedes in terms of raw pace and Bottas believes it has found an improvement in its successor.
When asked if the FW37 was a step forward from last year, Bottas replied: "Yes. I know it and this is only the first day and we will improve massively over the testing always and during the season as well. I think it's a good base. I think we have improved the aerodynamics; they are a bit more consistent through the corners which is a nice thing to feel as you get more trust in the car.
"The car was already good to drive last year but it feels like it was better already. We still have lots to do to unlock more performance but we don't need to do it here, we still have plenty of time and we just need to find everything we can about the car and how to respond to all the set-up changes. We have some aero tests and parts to try and all these things so it's going to be a busy few days but pretty important."
Bottas says Williams needs to maximise testing time and avoid the delays which hampered its running on Sunday.
"It was a bit of a slow start, we had some delays since yesterday, some parts were a bit delayed and everything was a little bit on the limit to get ready for the first day. After we got running everything went really well, we had quite a few laps. We lost some time in the morning which is a shame but after that everything went well, everything was working well, very reliable, and the initial feeling was good with the car. I feel it's a good base to start building a better car so a good first day but we need to make sure tomorrow when it's 9 o'clock we are out of the garage."
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
