British Grand Prix – Silverstone polesitter Valtteri Bottas says that his pole lap wasn’t perfect, but doubted that anyone could have done so during a tricky session.
Bottas took pole position by just 0.006 seconds on Saturday, with his first lap in Q3 being the one good enough to clinch the position. While teammate Lewis Hamilton improved on his second run right at the chequered flag, it wasn’t enough to usurp Bottas’ time meaning the Finn took pole position.
“It was good, obviously.” said Bottas afterwards about his lap.
“Good enough for pole, but wasn’t much difference between me and Lewis in the end. It was clear there was still room for improvements. I wouldn’t say it was a perfect lap, but I doubt anyone was able to put a perfect lap in today. It was not easy to get everything right cause it was super sensitive to new tyre mistakes here and there. It’s definitely a good feeling.”
Bottas’ fourth pole position means he now has the most first place starts for a Grand Prix out of all the drivers this year, but he says it isn’t an area he’s been specifically targeting: “It is not that I have been specifically working on it. Obviously, you always try to improve your performance. I think the biggest thing for me is still the race. Year by year you are always learning. You get quicker through work, but the main thing is to turn those poles into wins.”
Both Mercedes drivers made it through the Q2 session on the Medium tyre, with Bottas saying that tyre management is going to be a crucial area to convert his position into a strong race result: “Both tyres performed, so there are things we can look at from my driving and already so many things I can definitely do better in the race like tyre management. I honestly think that is the key to tomorrow.”
