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May 23rd
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Bottas to get Williams Barcelona test run

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The Williams Formula One team have confirmed that their test and reserve driver Valtteri Bottas will get a day in the FW34 car at the Barcelona test, with the Finn set to take the wheel of the car on the second day of next week's test.

Bottas has been the Williams reserve since the start of the 2010 season, but is set for an increased role in the team this season.

The Finn, who won last year's GP3 Series championship, will get a series of Friday practice runs for the team throughout the year.

And Williams confirmed on Friday that Bottas will also get a run in the new car at the Barcelona test.

At next week's four-day test, Bruno Senna will take the wheel of the FW34 on Tuesday, before Bottas gets a run out on Wednesday.

For Thursday and Friday, the team's second race driver Pastor Maldonado will drive.

Bottas has previously tested for the team at last November's Abu Dhabi Young Driver Test.

Meanwhile, the Williams team have talked up the performance of their FW34 car, despite some inconclusive results from the opening test in Jerez.

Senna was the fastest Williams driver at the test, but only posted the 15th quickest time from the 23 drivers used across the three days.

But with outright times counting for little in pre-season, the team has said that the data they got back from the FW34 proves that they have improved on last season's shambles.

"It is a definite step forward," the team's chief engineer Mark Gillan told the Autosport website on Thursday.

"It is clear that the car is very different to last year. And there are certain areas where we need to improve.

"Set-up tends to take a while to iterate too, and certainly that is what we will be looking to in the next couple of tests."

The second pre-season test of the year in Barcelona kicks off on February 21st.