VALTTERI Bottas was delighted at his second-placed finish at yesterday’s German Grand Prix.

The driver steered his Grove-based Williams to another podium finish, holding off the late challenge of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes.

Nico Rosberg was well clear at the head of affairs, his victory on home soil leaving him 14 points clear of Hamilton at the head of the championship with nine races remaining.

But for Bottas, runner-up in the British Grand Prix, it was a satisfying weekend, especially with teammate Felipe Massa crashing on the first lap.

“To keep a Mercedes behind at the end of the race was promising and showed the car is very strong,” he said.

“The engineers shared a lot of information with me about the tyres and where Hamilton was and that teamwork was the key to the good result.”

Massa, on the other hand, was not so happy following his crash with McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen at the first corner, which tipped the Brazilian’s car upside down.

“Going into the first corner I was near to Valtteri, but had to back off to stop an accident, sadly some others didn't do the same,” Massa said.

“I am obviously very disappointed.”

RESULT

1 N Rosberg (Mercedes) 1hr 33mins 42.9secs, 2 V Bottas (Williams) +20.789secs, 3 L Hamilton (Mercedes) +22.530, 4 S Vettel (Red Bull) +44.014, 5 F Alonso (Ferrari) +52.467, 6 D Ricciardo (Red Bull) +52.549, 7 N Hulkenberg (Force India) +1.04.178, 8 J Button (McLaren) +1.24.711, 9 K Magnussen (McLaren) lapped, 10 S Perez (Force India) lapped. Other local drivers: 12 P Maldonado (Lotus) lapped, 15 J Bianchi (Marussia) lapped, 16 K Kobayashi (Caterham) lapped, 17 M Chilton (Marussia) lapped, 18 M Ericsson (Caterham) lapped, 21 R Grosjean (Lotus) retired, 26 laps, 22 F Massa (Williams) retired, 0 laps.

STANDINGS

Drivers: 1 N Rosberg 190, 2 L Hamilton 176, 3 D Ricciardo 106, 4 F Alonso 97, 5 V Bottas 91, 6 S Vettel 82, 7 N Hulkenberg 69, 8 J Button 59, 9 K Magnussen 37, 10 F Massa (Williams) 30.

Constructors: 1 Mercedes 366, 2 Red Bull 188, 3 Williams 121, 4 Ferrari 116, 5 Force India 98, 6 McLaren 96, 7 Toro Rosso 15, 8 Lotus 8, 9 Marussia 2, 10 Sauber 0, 11 Caterham 0.