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Williams can’t compete with top three teams, says Bottas

Valtteri Bottas is resigned to Williams fighting with Force India in Mexico, despite the Finn finishing on the podium for the Grove team last year.

Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38
Valtteri Bottas, Williams F1 Team
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB12 leads Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H; Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38; Felipe Massa, Williams FW38 and Nico Hulkenberg, Force India VJM09
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW38

Bottas concedes that the top three teams have a clear advantage and that is unlikely to change in the remaining races.

"I think the fact is that just Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull are that clear step ahead of us," he said admitted. "And no matter which track we go to, they seem to now have a gap.

"For us not having any updates on the car I would guess it's again going to be for us fighting Force India.

"After the unlucky weekend in the USA we really need a good finish with both cars and get some good points. It's a very unique track in terms of downforce levels. We'll have to find out.

"Obviously it's not brand new tarmac, so we'll see how that's going to behave with different compounds.

"I think that's going to be the key anyway for us, to try and get everything out of the tyres for one lap and in the race."

Bottas admitted that it's hard to made any predictions based on last year's form.

"It's been difficult now the whole second half of the season to predict, even though we were going to places that were good for us [last year], it's been not the case anymore sometimes."

Regarding the ongoing fight with Force India, Bottas added: "Last weekend we did manage to catch them, but only two points, and there was so much more possible.

"But that's racing, and you don't always get the luck. The main thing is we need to finish with both cars, every single race, and hopefully be faster than them. That's how it goes."

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