‘Bottas is Champion material’

Valtteri Bottas will one day fight for a F1 Drivers’ Championship title, that’s according to Williams’ Pat Symonds.

Racing a much-improved Williams Mercedes FW36 in 2014, Bottas proved to be one of the stars of the campaign.

The Finnish driver, contesting his second season in F1, claimed six podium finishes – which included runner-up results in Britain and Germany – on his way to fourth in the standings.

It was an impressive showing from the 25-year-old and one that Symonds believes points to a potential World Champ.

“I’m really impressed with him,” the Williams chief technical officer told Autosport. “He’s very bright and he’s very quick. He doesn’t make many mistakes and when he does he learns from them.

“He’s got a great personality and he’s a real team player and I’m absolutely convinced that he’s got the potential to be a World Champion.

“I’ve worked with a few World Champions in their early days and I’ve no doubt that Valtteri will be a World Champion.”

Symonds added that Bottas is the all-round package as he’s not only quick but also has an attention to detail that will benefit him in the years to come.

“It certainly isn’t just one thing. It’s not about being quick as that’s almost a given and there are plenty of people who are quick but are never going to win the World Championship.

“It’s the intelligence, it’s the application, the thinking about things, the hard work that is put in, the attention to detail… Those sort of things will win him the Championship.

“I just would really, really, want that to be in a Williams car and it would be a great story.”