A character-building year

So how does Valtteri Bottas sum up his rookie season?

An inkling of Bottas' potential came in Canada when, during a qualifying session held in tricky, drizzly conditions, he qualified an excellent third on the grid. No-one expected him to repeat the performance come race day - particularly when it turned out dry and sunny - but there was no doubt the eventual result, 14th place, was galling. "I was really hoping to fight for points but on a track like that, where it's quite easy to overtake if you're quicker, it proved impossible to really defend," he concedes. "Everyone else went, we didn't have much chance to fight for the points and there were not many retirements or anything. "It was a difficult one: a very good feeling and then back to reality on Sunday." Reality also bit hard for the team's Technical Director Mike Coughlan, who has subsequently fired. For Bottas, 2013 has been "character-building. It's quite tough sometimes, knowing that you've got a good lap but it's not good enough for Q2". Yet he is convinced he'll emerge battle-hardened and cites his 2011 GP3 title-winning season as further proof he has no reason to change his head-down attitude. "There's been some difficult times in my career before like in GP3 when I had a very difficult beginning of the season," Bottas says. "But I proved it again: that no matter where you are in the Championship, or how bad it's going, there's never no reason to change your approach. My approach has always been, 'Just do your best, work hard and give your maximum, try to get everything out of the car through the weekend practice-by-practice, qualifying and the race. Focus on the weekend always, don't look further away'. "That's always been my approach and I think I've proved again that's the way to go. It's not worrying about how good or bad the car is, that's not going to help anything. It is what it is; my job is to do the best with the car that I have." Which is why, according to Bottas, he's competing against Esteban Gutierrez to be F1's most successful rookie with one hand tied behind his back. "They are different cars and Sauber at the moment are ahead of us quite clearly. They're much quicker than us, so I think it's not fair. Of course, it would be nice but..." ...but there's always next year? "It's not easy but I can only say the future will be better and I really think the car next year will be a lot better. So that's why I really would like to stay with Williams, because now I know everyone. They have so many people - so many clever people - and all the facilities, a good wind tunnel and everything. I think the future will be better." The inference is that Bottas is not guaranteed to be in a FW36, but even when viewed through the present murk the feeling is that he deserves to stay put. When Valtteri was confirmed as a race driver late last year, Sir Frank Williams described him as "quite simply one of the most talented young racing drivers I have come across" and there's been no hint during the intervening period that he's changed his mind. "That's always nice to hear," Bottas adds. "I've only had positive things so for me it would be natural. I still respect a lot the team because they gave me the opportunity to get to F1, first as a test driver and then as a driver. "For me now as a one-year race driver, it would be completely natural to continue." MW