Williams confirm no change in 2015 driver line-up

2015 F1 season

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Williams will retain its existing driver line-up of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas for the 2015 season, the team has confirmed.

Williams had previously described both drivers as being on “multi-year” contracts which extended beyond the current season.

Massa will remain at Williams for a second season while Bottas, who joined them in 2011 as a junior driver, enters his third season of racing.

Team owner Frank Williams said he was pleased with the progress of both his drivers. “Felipe is a pleasure to work with and combines raw pace with a wealth of experience,” he said. “We have known for many years that Valtteri is a very special talent and in the FW36 we have given him a car that is allowing him to demonstrate his skills.”

“The team is having a much improved 2014 season and the skill of our drivers and their feedback to our engineers has proved crucial in this. This announcement gives us excellent stability for 2015, but of course we are very much focusing our attention on maximising the full potential of the FW36 in the remaining seven races of this season.”

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Image © Williams/LAT

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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16 comments on “Williams confirm no change in 2015 driver line-up”

  1. One the one hand, it’s great for them to retain Bottas. On the other hand, they could’ve done better than Massa. Maybe they need an experienced driver, but I honestly think he’s a bit over the hill..

    1. Absolutely. This has to be the last chance MAS gets to prove that he can still drive like he did before his accident.

  2. Not what Felipe Nasr wanted to hear. There’s a name I don’t expect to hear much more of after this year…

    1. @william-brierty I think Nasr would benefit from a year of FP1s in Massa’s car.. then compare pace and decide whether to take up Massa’s option for year 3, or try Nasr.

      1. @fastiesty – But Nasr’s already in his third season of GP2, and the title looks no closer than last year (in fact his second place is likely to come under threat from Vandoorne); this plateau of results will likely keep him from an F1 race seat; especially now OGX is bankrupt.

        1. @william-brierty True, in the same way it hampered Calado. But Nasr is the ‘natural successor’ of Massa, in terms of the Banco do Brasil sponsorship for Williams (retaining Massa’s connections, unless he buys into the team), so at this point he just needs to get ready for F1. Lots of FP1s (more than Bottas, 2 years if necessary) and any available testing time leading to an eventual debut are his best bet, IMO.

  3. Great news for Bottas, I wonder if they decided to keep Massa to not rock the boat with regard to their current performance.

    Sometimes a known quantity is better than the risk of someone new.

  4. Maybe a slightly dissapointing news. What if *something* happens in Mercedes and one of their drivers won’t continue with the team? Will Bottas be able to move there despite his contract with Williams?

    1. Look at Cal Crutchlow for example, he was supposed to be at Ducati next year and yet he is going to LCR Honda alongside Jack Miller, so it is possible

    2. @huhhii Looking at this tweet, there’s surely a solution, especially as Toto Wolff is still part owner of Williams and manager of Bottas.

      1. @hunocsi Yeah, I was thinking Bottas to Mercedes option because of Wolff connection. It would be natural thing to do if HAM or ROS will drive elsewhere next year.

        If that’s what Frank Williams really said, then I think Mercedes is still very much possible for Bottas.

    3. I think Bottas is an absolute shoe-in to be Mercedes’ next new driver. 2016 would be my guess. But regarding if something was to happen at Mercedes this season, I’m sure they’d find a way of getting him a Mercedes for next year, but I find that highly unlikely.

  5. I must admit I wasnt a fan of Bottas when this season started. But as the season has progressed, he has become one of my favourite driver on the grid. I’m glad he is being retained and hopefully Williams will again be a good car to drive in 2015. As for Massa, he has dissapointed me with his performance in this season. I thought may be in a world outside Ferrari, he can be like what he used to be in his early career days. But he is still getting those same results as he was getting with Alonso i.e. finishing quite a few places after his teammate. May be 2015 will be the last of Massa’s journey as a F1 driver unless he improves his results drastically.

  6. Boooo and YAY at the same time. Bottas should stay, Massa not.

  7. Great news! Massa can drive, and proved that today! No doubt that Bottas have to stay!

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