Bottas puts on a show to remember

 Valtteri Bottas enhanced his reputation as one of the rising stars of Formula One when he upstaged some of the biggest names in the sport on Saturday to qualify third fastest for the Canadian Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old from Finland showed maturity beyond his years when he guided his Williams to the second row of the grid in difficult, wet conditions.

“I don’t think we expected to be on the first or second row,” Bottas told a news conference. “I think everyone in our team was hoping for rain because there's always a chance if you get the timing right, get everything right, you can maybe finish a bit higher than where the car is sometimes.”

With all the cars sliding around the slippery track, Bottas found a dry line and qualified less than half a second behind Germany’s triple world champion Sebastian Vettel, who took pole position for Red Bull.

Behind him were all but two of his more seasoned rivals, including former world champions Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button.
“Of course it means a lot,” he said. “It's way more up in the grid than we could really ever imagine.

“It's been so difficult in the first six races for us and this will be a nice boost for the team. We really got everything quite right today.”

Tipped for a bright future, Bottas has had a rough introduction to the white-knuckle sport because of problems with his Williams car.

Once an unstoppable force in Formula One, winning nine constructors’ championships and seven drivers’ titles, the British-based team has fallen on hard times. They have failed to score a single point all season.

Vettel reigns supreme

Red Bull Racing’s three-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel held his nerve to win the Canadian Grand Prix from start-to-finish on Sunday.

Vettel completed the 70-lap race ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.