Valtteri Bottas was tenth in qualifying for the Chinese GP. The Sauber driver has been convincing in Shanghai. It has also been noted by the 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg.
Sauber’s Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas for the first time in this F1 season reached the last section of the race in qualifying. Bottas was tenth in the final results.
Bottas continued his good pace this weekend. Already in the sprint qualifying on Friday, Bottas was ninth. Earlier on Saturday morning in the sprint, Bottas had bad luck when he collided with a teammate on the opening lap Guanyu Zhou with. Bottas was twelfth.
– It was a bit bad weather. There were cars on both sides. I collided with a teammate, Bottas described to Viaplay after the sprint race and stated that he got into a sandwich.
After the sprint, Bottas was even fourth for a while in the first part of qualifying. Chinese teammate Zhou was also in the top ten in the first section for the longest time in his home race. Zhou had to be disappointed and stay in the opening section.
Commenting on F1 events for Sky Sports this weekend Nico Rosberg however, was excited about Sauber’s speed.
– Sauber is better this weekend than we have seen in previous races, Rosberg marveled during the first section.
Bottas told Viaplay after qualifying that the goal was to get into the top ten. The Finn described that he got into a good rhythm. The time trial became clean. The Finnish F1 star was also in a good mood at the end of a long day on Saturday.
Now the Finn has a very good chance to grab his first points of the season on Sunday.
– Realistically, we now have the best chance to take points. It should be possible for the pace, but the points leader requires a perfect performance from every member of the team, Bottas said.
Lewis Hamilton among the last
As usual, Red Bull was superior. In Saturday’s sprint Max Verstappen rose despite technical problems from the fourth frame to victory.
Later on Saturday, the time trials were also controlled by the Dutchman. Verstappen grabbed the pole position for Sunday with a difference of 0.322 seconds from his teammate to Sergio Perez. Aston Martin Fernando Alonso was handsomely third behind the Red Bulls.
The biggest surprise in qualifying was Mercedes Lewis Hamilton collapse. Britti made a driving mistake in the opening section and was only in 18th place in qualifying.
Even in Saturday morning’s sprint race, Hamilton was really excited when he finished second behind Verstappen. However, it still did not satisfy the British.
Hamilton said that he had had a team mate of George Russell same adjustments in the morning. However, he had wanted to test something new in qualifying. Russell made adjustments in one direction and Hamilton in the other.
The new sprint format made it possible to adjust the car. Now the sprint race is run on Saturday before the time trials on Sunday. In the meantime, the car can be modified.
– We needed something like this (tuning the cars) now, but it didn’t work. I tried my best. 18th place is pretty bad. When I made the adjustment changes, I thought it couldn’t get any worse. But it went, Hamilton told Sky Sports, referring to Mercedes’ sluggish start to the season.
Sunday’s competition starts at 10:00.