Bottas: Slow turns and thin air at F1 Mexico GP key to Alfa Romeo promise

Bottas and team-mate Zhou Guanyu both made Q3 and qualified ninth and 10th respectively, putting them in a strong position to score crucial points in the tight battle amongst the four teams at the bottom of the constructors' championship.

The Finn showed good pace throughout the weekend, earning fourth place in FP2 on Friday, and then sailed through the first two parts of qualifying in fifth and seventh.

The 10-time F1 grand prix winner was actually disappointed with the final run that led to his ninth place on the grid, but it was the team's best qualifying result since another outlier performance in Hungary, where Zhou and Bottas started fifth and seventh.

"I think coming into this weekend, I was always expecting more than from Austin," said Bottas. "It seems like since the first practice we've been within top 10 all weekend in terms of pace.

"That's why it's really good to get both cars in Q3, and only a little bit annoying thing today was on my last lap, I had a bit of a lock-up in the last sector, so there was a bit of time lost. But still, we take this result because it allows us to fight for some good points."

Asked why the car was so competitive in Mexico, he said: "I think this track is just the kind of slow speed nature, it still fits our car a bit better.

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo C43

"Also, the drag effect is less, because our car is quite draggy. So here obviously, with thin air it is less [of a] penalty.

"I think set-up wise we've been able to run the car in a better place than Austin, because it's less bumpy here. So those things combined."

Bottas acknowledged that the team has to convert the qualifying result into points given the tight battle from seventh to 10th in the F1 world constructors' championship, especially with the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo starting fourth.

"Really important now we have the Williams cars behind us, to get some points against them tomorrow would be really good," he said. "And of course try and get Daniel because he's in a good place."