Bottas blames engine mode error for missing Q3

With Williams locked in a tight fight for fourth place in the constructors' championship, Bottas missed out on knocking rival Sergio Perez out of Q2 by 0.039 seconds, which left him down in 11th and allowed Perez to secure seventh in the final shootout.

Speaking afterwards, Bottas had no doubts that he had a car capable of making it through to Q3, but the engine error and a scrappy rest of lap meant he fell short.

"I think pace wise we were very close with Force India so in theory we should have been with both cars in Q3 and fighting very close with them," he explained.

"But in Q2, opening the lap, I made a mistake myself. I switched on to the qualifying engine mode a bit too late, losing a little bit of speed at the beginning of the straight. We are talking about a few hundredths there but it was so close.

"Then the lap itself, it wasn't a perfect lap. I know that there were some things there and there – mainly caused by mid-corner understeer, mainly in Turn 6, Turns 7/8, also Turn 2 I couldn't quite get the car pointed at the apex the way I wanted. So it was a bit tricky getting on the power.

"From my side, not one of my best laps. Q3 was definitely possible."

Bottas suspected that the time lost on the straight would have been enough to make the difference and get him through to Q3.

"I think it was just about there," he said. "It is annoying but I also know that without that, with driving wise and a bit of a better balance with the car, it should have been possible."

Williams performance chief Rob Smedley was more emphatic about the impact of the time lost on the straight/finish straight.

When asked by Motorsport.com if the data had showed Bottas getting through to Q3 if he had switched to the right mode on time, Smedley said: "Yes. He [Bottas] only needed 40 milliseconds to pass through and bump Perez out.

"It means we would have been in a slightly different situation as we would have had Perez back in 11th and Valtteri in there, able to put his lap together.

"It was one of those unfortunate circumstances in F1 – we definitely had the pace in the car for seventh today and we didn't quite manage it for various reasons. So it is a little bit disappointing."

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