• Jerez Test, Day Three

New Williams parts 'positive' - Bottas

ESPN Staff
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Valtteri Bottas' focused on aero work for Williams after the team found the track surface too aggressive for tyre analysis © Sutton Images
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Valtteri Bottas said some of the new parts being tested on the Williams FW34 on day three of the first test have been "positive".

Williams is running its 2012 car at Jerez this week and had originally planned to evaluate the 2013 Pirelli tyres with a known baseline. However, with Pirelli admitting the track surface is more abrasive than any track on the calendar, Williams switched its focus to aerodynamic work and Bottas said the early signs were good.

"We've tried some new bits and it looks positive," Bottas said. "It's a bit like for everyone; it will just be a more developed car from last year's car but it's still too early to say [how it feels] we need to see the complete [new] car running on track and see how it behaves."

With the FW35 not being launched until the second test at Barcelona and all of the other teams making the most of good weather at Jerez with their new cars this week, Bottas said he wasn't concerned Williams would be left playing catch-up.

"I'm not too worried but of course everyone hopes in the team that everything goes well and that we get in to a good rhythm and we get to test the car a lot in the first days. If it rains then there's nothing we can do for it but it's not something we should worry about now because that's just how it is and that's how it was planned to get the car for Barcelona and start from there."

With executive shareholder Toto Wolff following chief operations engineer Mark Gillan in leaving the team having had a major hand in Bottas getting a race seat, Bottas said the changes hadn't dampened his enthusiasm going in to the new season.

"Toto did some good things as well as Mark at Williams and it is a shame to see them going but I think we have a good team still now. So far what I've seen everything is really well organised and everything has run really well. There has been some changes but I don't see any problems with that."

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