Valtteri Bottas thought his Qualifying lap at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, which put him in pole position for the Sprint Qualifying race, was ‘beautiful,’ with the Finn hoping for maximum points on Saturday afternoon.
The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver set a personal best time of 1:19.555 to beat teammate Lewis Hamilton by 0.096 seconds, and he was delighted to see the team finish well ahead of main rivals Red Bull Racing.
“Pole position feels great and I really had fun and enjoyed it out there,” said Bottas. “It was a beautiful lap, which I managed to save for the end.
“I felt relaxed in the car and I am happy with our work as a team. The car has felt good all day, with our performance little stronger than we perhaps expected, especially when you look at the gap to Red Bull. Hopefully it will be similar on the race pace for us.”
Bottas knows he’ll start from the back of the grid for Sunday’s main race at Monza due to grid penalties for an engine change, so he’ll want to get as much out of Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying as he can.
“I know I’ll be starting from the back on Sunday with the PU change but the focus is on tomorrow and trying to extract as many points as possible,” said the Finn. “We know Sunday will be a fight, but our pace is good and I’m sure we can finish strong then too.
“But our eyes are set on tomorrow and hopefully we have another good day.”
“I struggled a bit in that last session for whatever reason” – Lewis Hamilton
On Saturday, teammate Hamilton will start alongside Bottas on the first row, and he praised the Finn for a’mega lap’ on Friday.
Hamilton stated that he struggled in Q3 but couldn’t match his teammate’s pace, but he still got to get the car on the top row of the grid, ahead of championship rival Max Verstappen.
“First, I want to congratulate Valtteri, that was really a mega lap and he was just quicker,” said Hamilton. “I couldn’t match it at the end so very well deserved. Especially with the news that went out earlier this week, it’s great to see Valtteri driving so well.
“From my end, I struggled a bit in that last session for whatever reason, so not the best Qualifying for me. But in general, it was close between us all out there and I’m happy to have a front row lockout for the team.”
Hamilton thinks it is important to make a good start in Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying to put himself in a good position for Sunday’s main event, especially with only nine races remaining in the season and the title race with Verstappen being so close.
“We have to get off to a good start tomorrow and try and maximise the opportunities,” he said. “There has been many lost points this year so every point really counts and we need to try and capitalise during these sprint race weekends.
“The format is exciting and it’s amazing to see the Italian fans back. I hope we can give them a good show.”
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