Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas thinks he has done very well at Friday runs – Formula 1 news
Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas has said that he has surprised himself with his 2012 exploits during the Friday practice sessions in the season so far.
Bottas is the reigning GP3 champion and has been a regular match for the team-s race driver Pastor Maldonado. He has been compared to Maldonado on several occasions and the driver feels humbled by the comparisons yet he believes that there is still a lot
of room for improvements.
“I'm happy with how I've improved. I think I'm still improving all the time, in every session,” said Bottas, when asked by AUTOSPORT how he would rate his season so far. With my goals before the start of the season, I maybe didn't expect to be on the pace
so quickly, because the first couple of Fridays already went really well. But I'm still learning more and more, so I'm happy with how it's been going.”
He added that it was nice to see that he can match Maldonado and sometimes be even quicker than the Spanish Grand Prix winner of the season, but he can improve. He added that it is always nice to see that the speed is there but admits that there is still
a lot to be learnt. He added that he is not going to get carried away with these comparisons and will remain focused at keeping his learning curve sharp.
He also admitted that it is not easy for him not to be racing but he has had to adjust has been able to manage the adjustment to make the most out of 2012 by running the Friday morning practice sessions at the Grands Prix.
He is used to racing and once you race all your life it becomes harder for you to be in a reserve driver role and not be there in the action. He has been racing since the age of five or six and he thinks that he is ready to race but as things are at the
moment he is keen to learn.
It will be interesting to see if Bottas impressive practice sessions lead to a race seat for 2013 with Williams or other teams looking for a young talented driver.
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