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Valtteri Bottas says that being out-qualified by teammate Lewis Hamilton for the second consecutive weekend is "not a disaster".
The Finn was pipped to third place by Hamilton by just over half a tenth of a second, as Ferrari locked out the front row of the grid.
Heading into the race, Bottas holds the lead of the championship for the first time in his career as he picked up the race win as well as the extra point for the fastest lap two weeks ago in Australia.
"It was okay in qualifying but it could have been better,” Bottas said. “It was pretty close between Lewis and me, I think he just got a bit better laps in the early runs, in Q2, and I had to chase him a little bit.
"In Q3 I was pretty pleased with my lap in the last run but all the weekend I haven’t been really able to nail a proper lap.
“I can see the differences and it’s small things here and there, I could have definitively been quicker today, but it was not the easiest car to drive in qualifying.
“We’re speaking of being a few hundreds of a second behind Lewis, so it’s not a disaster and we are there where the car’s pace is.”
Toto Wolff confirmed after the session that Mercedes was losing out to Ferrari down the straights.
When asked if there are other areas that the Silver Arrows are dropping time, Bottas said: "Based on what we’ve seen today it’s mainly straight-line speed.
“There is a couple of corners where they are a bit better, then in general in the other corners it’s very similar and then there’s a couple of corners where we are better.
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (4)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
A lot of hype around Bottas after just one good race. But I expect Bottas to continue to be a dutiful second driver, always a tenth or two behind Lewis.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I kinda expect that, but I hope he says screw it, and just goes on a steamroll.
Manto02
Posts: 93
If he wants to be something he must go full Rosberg mode, unless he will be replaced by Ocon and no teams will want to sign him
abhidbgt
Posts: 283
I am not sure that Ocon is a better qualifying driver than Bottas but it is true that chance would go to him if he is constantly outqualified by Hamilton.