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Bottas admits Williams form "not good enough"

Williams' performance in the European Grand Prix was simply "not good enough", according to Valtteri Bottas.

Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38
Felipe Massa, Williams FW38
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38
Felipe Massa, Williams FW38
(L to R): Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W07 Hybrid, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB12, and Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38 battle for position
Felipe Massa, Williams FW38
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38

Although the team had gone into the race with high hopes given the nature of the track, both Bottas and teammate Felipe Massa struggled for pace on Sunday.

The Finn, who opted for a one-stop strategy, could only finish in sixth place, over a minute behind race winner Nico Rosberg.

"Not good enough, of course," said Bottas after the race. "But I think it was all we could get together. The predicted pace we should have had wasn't quite there, you know, we were just missing pace today.

"But the team did a really good job managing to make the one-stop work. And again, a really good pit-stop. We just need to make a better car now and better pace."

When asked what was missing, he said: "Grip in the corners. We've been really efficient again in a straight line, it's managed to help me get past cars in the beginning. But just cornering grip, that's what we're missing."

Teammate Massa came home in 10th place with a two-stop strategy.

Head of performance Rob Smedley agreed with Bottas that Williams needs to extract more speed from its car.

"Felipe was struggling with rear graining on the qualifying tyre," Smedley said. "And then Valtteri had a little bit of the same thing to a lesser extent in the first stint, but then they came back.

"And then, actually, he was quite strong towards the end of that stint, he was still putting in greens and going quicker and quicker. So we just left him out.

"We were all expecting a little bit more excitement from the grand prix, and it didn't really deliver it. We split out strategies, Felipe on a two-stop, Valtteri made the one-stop work which obviously got into that sixth position from running ninth in the first stint, so reasonably happy with that.

"We need to find a bit more car pace."

Additional reporting by Andrew van Leeuwen.

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