Just watching the GP at the weekend and it got me thinking, is the Williams the best it can be with the drivers they have? I have nothing against Bottas or Massa, who is one of my favorite drivers but are they consistently good enough to get the best out of the car. Trouble for Williams is they can't afford an Alonso or Hamilton. Is it catch 22.
Its a proven fact Alonso is far better than Massa. So there is that performance difference a better driver can give. Massa is also at the end of his carear so his peak is probably long gone. Im still very unsure on Bottas. he seems neither a great driver or a poor driver.
Finally someone with my views I don't rate either of the drivers anymore than average. Bottas was apparently one of the best drivers last year? He barely beat Vettel and Alonso who had a much slower car than him! All he had to do was beat Massa to get a podium. And he didn't do that all that often. The team don't help with strategic calls either. Massa should have won in Canada and Abu Dhabi last year, but they called him in to retire and finish 2nd? Whatever happened in Abu Dhabi Massa would have been 2nd at worst if they kept him out, and even if he magically lost 40 seconds, they'd have been 2nd and 3rd still. They managed to lose Austria too somehow!
Agreed Austria is Williams biggest mess up last year. They got scared and didnt dare fight for victory
My hope is that on such a short track like Austria the car differences will be smaller allowing drivers to make more of a difference. Would be nice to have a top three on the grid from three different manufacturers. After all both Mercedes boys mucked up quali there last year.
Sadly think Massa has passed his peak, although he is driving very well this year. Bottas needs to become more feisty, if he is to show he can go for the title in the future. At the moment he seems a little subdued.
I think the drivers are decent, not the bet pairing on the grid but not the worst either. I thought Massa's problems at Ferrari were down to the 'bump on the head', but now I'm thinking it had more to do with the car being built for Alonso. The problem with rating Bottas is he hasn't gone up against a team-mate who is a known quantity, or been in a race winning car since day one of his F1 career.
I don't see it as quite so black-and-white. Yes, Alonso is a better driver than Massa but Felipe was required to play second fiddle to Fernando at Ferrari and it eroded his confidence and consequently his performance; this deteriorated further following his near-fatal accident. On the other hand, Fernando is one of the greats, an exceptional talent beyond almost all others and he comes with a concomitant price tag which few can afford; I think it's safe to say that he would eek a little bit extra from the Williams. However, Massa is having a renaissance at Williams and Williams are having a renaissance with him; they are doing it together and I have no doubt that, beyond his many years' experience, Felipe will be giving the team positive, cohesive spirit which will have helped them a lot; but such things are invisible to the spectator. I suspect that Fernando does not make quite the same contribution. I'm not sure what to say about Bottas other than that he's almost there. It seems to me likely that he hasn't progressed this season because the car has been performing less consistently and because Ferrari have made a considerable advance in performance from last year. But, yes, sometimes he appears to be a bit too cool in his driving and lacks a fiery edge but I think the lack of consistency is more down to the car, msyelf.
If we look at the points table it points to a rather dire problem. Car performance being so unequal that the drivers are two by two from 1st to 8th. Ham is 13% ahead of Ros, Vet is 50% ahead of Kimi, Bot is 21% ahead of Mas, Ric is 84% ahead of Kvy... It's all swings and roundabouts really, Bottas is doing the best he can and Massa is doing the second best he can. They have a car worse than Ferrari by some margin but better than the rest by some margin. Until they have close competitors then the drivers are only fighting each other. If we look at it another way then after 7 races: Mercedes getting anything other than 2nd is bad (7x18pts = 126pts), both drivers pass. Ferrari getting anything other than 4th is bad (7x12pts = 84pts), Vettel passes. Williams getting anything other than 6th is bad (7x8pts = 56pts), Bottas passes. To be honest I've no idea what my point is so I'll end it there
I like your thinking, BLS, but I think it's worth noting that Kimi, Massa and Kvyat have each had worse luck than their team mates, although Bottas has had his woes too.
I was hoping for an epiphany mid post but sadly it never came. Can only hope it all evens out over the course of a season, sadly that is not always the case.
I thought this last year. Williams started with clearly the second best car, much like Ferrari this year, but poor strategy and lacklustre driving meant they didn't score a podium until the eighth race, and that was one they should've won. I think much of their advantage came from the Mercedes PU, aerodynamically the car doesn't look very sophisticated, and now Ferrari have caught up somewhat they've slipped down the pecking order. Just looking at their points last season, at this stage Bottas had 40 and Massa 18. Combined they only had one more point than Bottas alone has this season, and Bottas sat out the first race this year too. So yeah, I think last year they chronically underperformed, but this year I think they're generally doing a solid job, Bottas in particular, he's been top six every race apart from Monaco where they were terrible, and scored a podium when the opportunity presented itself. Just to add, I think Williams suffered the same problem in 2012. Sure they got a win with Maldonado but their drivers let them down for most of the season, that was a quick car they had that year. So much for F1 being all about the car. OK right at the top, it's often the car that separates the top drivers, but the drivers also make a difference to their various teams.
Maybe there's a kind of collective disappointment that they haven't stepped up enough from last year to make more of a challenge on Mercedes but maybe that was too much to expect, realistically; it's still great to see them back at the top end, though. Using the Ferrari comparison again, we all got excited about the Malaysia result but they haven't been able to replicate it yet; no one can threaten Mercedes under normal circumstances. It will be yet another of those seasons where all the fun happens in the midfield.
I'm still adamant that in 2012 they focused too much on the pay driver instead of the better driver. Which is why they didn't do better. Same as in the Toyota days when they were a slave to kazu
I'm still unconvinced by Bottas, I think there were times last year where a better driver would have extracted more. In his defence you could argue that he has limited experience in a front running car compared to the likes of Massa.
The restrictions on engine development ensure there will be no evening out for 3 seasons. In a sport that used to pride itself on development, Bernie and his greedy mates have stuffed it up big time and it's now all about "made up" excitement. Bores to snores.
