Valtteri Bottas believes he was “totally going” in his effort to win qualifying at the Turkish Grand Prix in 2021, and that he was not ordered to lift to assist Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas will start Sunday’s race from pole position as a result of his Mercedes teammate’s grid penalty for removing the season’s fourth engine before the race begins in Istanbul this weekend.
Bottas’ best time in Q3 was 0.13s slower than Hamilton’s, despite the fact that Bottas only did two flying laps in that section, whereas Hamilton did three, the second of which produced the fastest time in qualifying (and another new Istanbul track record).
After two-thirds of his final Q3 flight, Bottas was 0.005s faster than Hamilton, but a slow closing sector – in which the Finn slipped deep at the Turn 12 left-hand hairpin at the end of Istanbul’s main straight – cost him the race.
“No, I wasn’t asked to slow down and I was definitely going for it,” Bottas replied in the post-qualifying press conference when asked if the late time loss was part of a plan to ensure Hamilton qualified ahead and thus begins 11th rather than 12th in the grand prix.
“I started to struggle a bit with the front end in the last sector, so I just had some understeer in Turn 12 and 14.
“I could feel that I was losing a bit of time – probably used the tyres a bit more earlier in the lap. So yeah, I was fully going for it, for sure.”
Because of “the issue we have with Lewis’s penalty,” Bottas also stated that the way qualifying went for Mercedes was “ideal” and “perfect in a way.”
He added: “But the session itself – Q1 was tricky with the damp conditions and to be honest, even at the end of Q3 there was still a couple of spots that there was small damp places and you needed to be a bit cautious to find the best way around them.
“But I enjoyed it. The grip level was still decent and from the start of the weekend the car has been in a pretty good window in terms of the set-up.
“So, didn’t need to make massive changes. I enjoyed it.”
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