Bottas aims to beat Ferrari
Valtteri Bottas qualified sixth in the qualifying session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Finn was happy not to encounter any problems with his back and hopes to have a strong race pace.
Valtteri was hopeful to be in the fight for the second row on the grid.
“To be honest, from what we saw in the practice sessions we had hoped to be fighting for the second row of the grid.”
He admitted Williams’ closest rival Ferrari were once again a step ahead when the all-important qualifying got under way.
“But Ferrari were quicker today. In Q3 I had a nice clean lap, my best lap of the weekend, but they are one step ahead of us - even a bit more. Of course we will try everything tomorrow in the race, but it will be difficult to gain position.”
The Finn said that this is the first weekend of the season when he feels perfect and fit after he has been struggling with his back.
“This is the first week that I feel nothing - and that is great. The new driving position that I have now is a huge step forward. It is much more comfortable. So I don’t expect this back issue to happen again.”
Valtteri expects Ferrari and Mercedes to be very strong in the race, but he assured his fans that Williams should be up there should the two leading teams get in trouble.
“Us both? Fifth and Sixth? At this point it is where we are. It makes no sense in dreaming up a scenario that will not happen. Should something go wrong with either Mercedes or Ferrari we should be there!”
As for the prospects for the future Valtteri revealed Williams not only aims to upgrade the aerodynamics of its car, but they also want to work on how they can extract the best of the tyres.
“Of course we will have updates on the car, but we will also look at how to use the different tyre compounds better. There is quite a bit in there. Aerodynamics is the main thing - and whatever we can do on the mechanical side we will try to improve as well. But there is still a long way to go to close the gap. ”
