Breaking news
Formula 1 Sakhir GP
Bottas says Sakhir Grand Prix qualifying "not my best"
Valtteri Bottas says his pole position performance at the Sakhir Grand Prix came despite him not delivering the best of qualifying sessions he has had in Formula 1.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: Dec 5, 2020, 8:03 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Finn edged out new teammate George Russell by just 0.026 seconds on the Bahrain outer loop track to allow the Mercedes duo to lock out the front row of the grid. Both cars will also start on the medium tyre after using it to get out of Q2.
On a weekend where Bottas has been under pressure not to be outperformed by Russell, who is standing in for Lewis Hamilton, he said he was happy he did enough after a scrappy run in Q3.
"For sure it's a different situation to have a new teammate but ultimately I just wanted to focus on my own doing, and not to waste energy anywhere else," said Bottas. "I think I managed to do that.
"I think strategy wise we are in a great place as a team and good to see George locking out the front row as well. It's good to be on pole, I'm happy for that but not my best qualifying. I'm happy it was enough."
Read Also:
While the three long straights could offer plenty of overtaking opportunities in the race, Bottas is worried that cars may still not be able to follow each other closely enough.
"It's a bit of an unknown really how the racing is going to be," he said. "It didn't feel that easy to follow other cars, so I'm really pleased to be on pole and go from there.
"Hopefully we'll see a fun race. It feels a bit of a Mickey Mouse track, in a way, it's quite bumpy and twisty. But let's see tomorrow."
Bottas and Russell's performance left Red Bull's Max Verstappen third on the grid, with him starting on the soft compound.
Although the Dutchman ended up just 0.056 seconds adrift of Bottas, he felt that shorter track reduced the significance of that.
"From our side we had a good qualifying," he said. "The lap itself as well, it's a very short lap and not many corners.
"I'm pleased to get near to be in P3. I tried to be as close as I can today. It was a bit closer than normal, but I think the layout explains that as well.
"Of course we also tomorrow will be starting on different tyres, so this will be quite interesting in how it's going to play out for us. Like I said before, we have nothing to lose so it's better to have a bit of fun tomorrow and see what we can do."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Russell "gutted" to miss out on Sakhir GP pole
Next article Leclerc explains decision to abandon Q3 early
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 31, 2024
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Dec 28, 2024
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
Valtteri Bottas
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
7 d
Colton Herta qualifies for F1 superlicence as Valtteri Bottas remains bullish on 2027 seat
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
Formula 1
Formula 1
Mexican GP
11 d
Cadillac to investigate high-speed Mexico GP failure that led to angry Valtteri Bottas reaction
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Formula 1
Canadian GP
You Ask The Questions: Valtteri Bottas
Latest news
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Formula E
FE Formula E 13 min
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 35 min
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
1 h
How Qatar red flag helped Johann Zarco put Barcelona crash behind him
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe