Bottas now getting the maximum from Mercedes
Valtteri Bottas feels is now beginning to extract the full potential of the Mercedes W08 after securing his maiden F1 pole position in a thrilling qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Ahead of the Finn’s 82nd race in F1 he became its 98th pole position winner, joining countrymen Kimi Raikkonen, Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen and Heikki Kovalainen in achieving the feat, the latter of which brought the Scandinavian nation its last Saturday success at Silverstone in 2008.
Well placed to also become F1’s 106th and newest winner later today, Bottas’ success comes in only his third race with the title-winning Mercedes team and has been hailed as the culmination of ‘hard work’ – as acknowledged by team-mate Lewis Hamilton – in gelling with the W08 over the opening races.
Indeed, after a disastrous Chinese Grand Prix when he finished sixth after spinning behind the safety car, Bottas feels he is now unlocking the best from the package in order to get on terms with his three-time title winning title.
“Every single qualifying is always different circumstances and different track, different scenarios but I definitely feel I’ve been getting more and more comfortable with the car, how it is behaving and also working with the team and fine-tuning the setup of the car.
“I’m getting better with that as well with the engineers. So overall just, yeah, feeling more confident in the car and today it felt good, especially towards the end of the qualifying in Q3. Got some good laps, felt that I could extract pretty much the maximum out of the car. That’s always a good feeling and for sure it always takes a bit of time to get there.
“The more laps, the more time you spend with a car and driving it, you get to be more at one with the car. So, definitely feel better and better. It felt better here than, for example, last week in China in qualifying. It’s good. I need to keep doing that progress and keep trying to get better all of the time.”
Source :http://www.crash.net
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