F1: Bottas shines with charge to second straight podium

Valtteri Bottas proved to be one of the stars of the British Grand Prix as he converted 14th on the grid into second place at the flag.

The Williams driver actually qualified 17th, but gained three places from penalties before a sensational first lap saw him jump up to ninth before the red flag.

Thereafter, he made some great passing moves as he worked his way up the order with his late and sole pit stop proving just the ticket. The result came on the heels of his third-place effort in Austria.

"We knew that this race could be good fun," said Bottas. "We knew that we had a quick car. Maybe it was a bit surprisingly quick today, but since the first stint the pace was good, since the first lap. I was able to go through the field quite well.

"Of course, sometimes it needed a bit of risk, because it's really important to get through quickly and not get stuck behind people, but I really managed to get well in position, where the pace of the car was. I'm just really, really happy with what we've been doing as a team. Again, the race pace shows we are really doing the right things and I'm very happy to be part of this."

Bottas said that the team is getting better: "Well, we are definitely a stronger team than we were in, let's say Melbourne, or the first few races. Difficult to compare even to last year or two years before. I think we are really getting stronger all the time. It's not going to be easy to be on the podium in every race as I think this season is going to be quite a bit race-by-race but we are definitely on the right way and really happy to be part of this.

"Myself, I have been improving also all the time. Every race I aim to be a better driver and as a team we aim to be a stronger team every single race – and that's what we've been doing."