Valtteri Bottas has been hailed as a potentially exceptional driver of the future if he continues on his upward path in Formula One.
That is the verdict of Williams’ head of vehicle performance Rob Smedley in the wake of the Finn’s recent impressive performances.
In scoring the first podiums of his F1 career in the last two races – third in Austria and second at Silverstone – Bottas became the first Williams driver to claim back-to-back top-three finishes since Nick Heidfeld back in 2005.
You have to go back a further two years and to Juan Pablo Montoya for a run of three or more successive podiums, a feat Bottas could achieve in this weekend’s German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.
Regardless of whether Bottas manages such a feat, Smedley cannot help but be impressed with what he has seen so far from the 24-year-old.
“He’s a great driver, someone who could become an exceptional driver, so we’re lucky to have him.” said Smedley. “His racecraft is phenomenal, he’s super-quick, but the good thing about Valtteri is he’s a young lad with his feet absolutely on the ground. He’s not spoiled in any way shape or form, which is great.
“He’s also able to accept advice very readily, not only about the very basics, but also about his racecraft and how he communicates with us.
“At Silverstone, the communication between him and the pit wall – the messages we sent him and those that came back – were exceptional.
“That’s what you need, to have that level of synergy between driver and pit wall, that cohesion between what we’re all trying to achieve so that it’s all going in the right direction.”
With 33 points from the last two races, Bottas has rocketed up to fifth in the drivers’ standings behind the two leading Mercedes drivers Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.
In the constructors’, Williams are up to fourth, just three points behind third-placed Ferrari, yet Smedley is eager to put the brakes on any rising expectations.
“It would be quite remiss for me to say Williams has the second fastest car and it will remain like that," he said. "It’s so tight in the midfield it can swing either way and you can go from having the second fastest car to the fifth fastest very easily.
“You need to keep the pressure on in every single area, that’s how you end up with a car able to win races, and eventually comfortably win races. You have to keep your feet on the ground and be respectful of your competitors and respectful of every single circuit you go to, and we absolutely are.
“That’s my philosophy, the philosophy of (chief technical officer) Pat Symonds, and it’s a philosophy I pass on to the team.”
Bottas made his mark in motorsport when, in 2007 at the age of 17, he won two Formula Renault races, and the following year he won both the Formula Renault Eurocup and the Formula Renault Northern European Cup.
In 2009 he moved up to the Formula 3 Euroseries, finishing third in the championship. Williams signed him as a test driver in 2010 and he made his debut in 2013.
