VALTTERI Bottas said it was very satisfying to secure his fourth podium finish of 2014 for Williams at Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday.

Bottas moved up three places from qualifying to take third spot for the Grove-based team behind Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and Mer-cedes’ Nico Rosberg at Spa-Francorchamps.

The Finn made Williams’s two-stop strategy work well, but teammate Felipe Massa was hindered by debris that lodged in his car early on.

Brazilian Massa could only finish 13th, with the debris reducing his car’s aerodynamic performance.

Bottas said: “Our pace was solid and a lot better than in qualifying, with some good battles with the Ferraris and Red Bulls, and I think third was probably the right result.

“I was stuck behind slower cars at the beginning which made the first stint difficult, but I managed to make my way past cars when it was needed and that was important for my race.

“We came into this race aiming for a podium and it is very satisfying to achieve that after an up-and-down weekend.”

Massa said: “Unfortun-ately at the beginning of the race I had some tyre debris stuck in the floor that came from Lewis Hamilton’s car.

“This made the car very slow. I was losing about two seconds per lap.

“This wasn’t removed until my second pitstop and after that I was nearly three seconds quicker and the fastest car on track.

“But at this point it was too late for me to really do anything.

“Obviously I’m very disappointed that something like this has hurt my race and I just hope that in Monza my luck will change and I am able to put the car in the sort of position it is capable of.”

WILLIAMS’ DRIVERS’ STANDINGS 5 V Bottas 110pts, 9 F Massa 40.