Several drivers were denied a final opportunity at pole position during qualifying for the 2021 Monaco Grand Prix, with Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas forced to remove his final attempt after Charles Leclerc’s shunt late in the session triggered red flags.
Mercedes has struggled to reclaim the form that saw them dominate the race last year. On Saturday, Bottas’ best lap time of 1:10.601s placed him third on the timesheets, albeit a quarter second behind pole winner Leclerc.
But, perhaps more importantly, he was a half-second faster than his colleague Lewis Hamilton, who finished seventh on the day in the sister car.
Nonetheless, Bottas believed he had a chance to win until the Red Bulls went red, as he later told Sky F1: “It was disappointing not to get my last run in.” That’s how it can be at times.
“I left everything out there for the last one. The first run wasn’t enough for pole but I was feeling good after the second run. I’m gutted.
“I think we have made good progress with the car throughout the weekend, definitely happier with it throughout qualifying.”
Later, he said in the Mercedes team report, “I didn’t have the best feeling in the car on Thursday and even in practice this morning – we were still battling with the tyre warm-up and mechanically, the car just isn’t made for tracks like this.”
“I think we maximised everything set-up wise for Quali, we made some changes and I felt comfortable. As qualifying progressed, I saw that we had a chance for pole position so it’s a shame I never got to finish the last run – I guess we’ll never find out if it was enough but it was a good lap up until the red flag, I was a tenth or two up.
“It is great to see many teams out there competing at the front, it’s exciting and we are all pushing so much on the track, trying to make every small gain we can. I am sure tomorrow will be a tight battle.
“We’ll try everything we can tomorrow. It’s Monaco, anything can happen,” added the Finn who finished third at the 2019 race at the Principality.
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