Valtteri Bottas believes P2 could be the better place to start as he eyes a run on Lewis Hamilton upto Les Combes at the start.
The Finn was a disappointing half a second down on his Mercedes teammate in qualifying but it was still enough to complete the front row, albeit just 0.015s ahead of Max Verstappen.
And commenting on that gap, Bottas admits he was a bit surprised to be so far behind.
“Yes, La Source was a bit inconsistent, but I think we got the car right there,” he said. “It’s just that on the first run in Q3, I think the tyres were a bit too cold at the start of the lap, so I had a bit of a lock-up there, so that was it for the first run.
“The second run felt actually pretty good, overall, so I don’t know where’s the gap to Lewis, but I’m not too bothered, because I know second place is a good place to start here, it will be an interesting run into Les Combes.”
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Indeed, with the Red Bull and Renault's behind all having matched or being faster than Mercedes on the straights around Spa-Francorchamps it could be a whole gaggle of cars running side-by-side on the Kemmel Straight out of Eau Rouge.
And with Bottas needing to beat Hamilton to get his championship back on track, he is promising he won't hold back.
“Yes, of course, I need to attack if I still want to keep the title hopes there. Nothing is, obviously, over until it’s over and I’m going to go for it," he said.
“The first lap is always a great opportunity, but here racing is always great so, at least, I know already there will be plenty of opportunities to do it.”
