Austrian GP: Change of fortunes for Williams Martini

After what was a difficult qualifying for the 2017 Austrian Grand Prix the Williams Martini team would see their drivers line up seventeenth and eighteenth on the grid. The Williams team would have to use the strategy of starting on different tyres and they would split their strategies with Felipe Massa starting on the soft tyre and team-mate Lance Stroll the super soft. The start of the race would see some collisions with the cars in front and after the initial laps were completed the Williams drivers found themselves in tenth and eleventh with Felipe ahead of Lance. It was a great first lap with both drivers making up a large number of places.

By lap six Felipe and Lance were able to move up to ninth and tenth. As the race progressed the positions would become fairly static with Felipe and Lance remaining in ninth and tenth. Neither had pitted as yet but it would Lance who would come in first switching to the ultra soft tyre in what would be his only stop. Lance would return in eleventh while Felipe had moved up to seventh. Lap forty seven and Felipe had yet to pit and was currently sixth. Lance had moved up to eleventh while the following lap would see Felipe pit also taking on the ultra soft tyre for his run to the finish.

Felipe would return in ninth with Lance in tenth. Both Williams cars were in the points with Felipe looking to close the gap to eighth placed Ocon. But as the race progressed Felipe and Lance would continue to run in ninth and tenth and this would be their positions at the finish. To go from such a disappointing qualifying to getting both cars in the points was a major turnaround for the Williams team. The race would be won by Bottas with Vettel second and Ricciardo third. It was a positive result for the Williams team as they prepare for their home race next weekend at Silverstone.