Valtteri Bottas is convinced he lost pole position as a result of the crash for Kimi Raikkonen in Q3 at the Italian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes driver was less than half a tenth behind polesitter Charles Leclerc yet it was only enough to claim third on the grid behind teammate Lewis Hamilton.

And his was among the seven cars which also failed to reach the start/finish line before the chequered flag to start a second timed lap as a result of the shenanigans to pick up a slipstream.

“I think it was compromised for many drivers,” Bottas explained. “In this kind of messy session, it was actually good to finish in the top three, but it was the same thing for me as for Lewis.

However, the moment which hit the Finn hardest came on his first Q3 run, as he lapping faster than Leclerc until he came across his fellow countryman Raikkonen in the barrier at the Parabolica.

"I was actually more far back, so when we got the yellow flags I had to lift properly, so I also feel we lost the pole there," he said.

“It’s annoying when you know it could have been possible but it could have been a lot worse today.

“I hope we’re going to learn something from the last run because almost everyone missed on their final lap and there were two cars going very slow and no one could go by.

“It was not ideal, but we are here, very much close to the front and it’s going to be a good fight tomorrow.”

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Asked if something should be done about the tactics teams and drivers were employing in hopes of gaining a slipstream, Bottas pointed to the unique nature of the past two circuits.

“Well, these two tracks we’ve seen they’re really specific for the tows," he noted. 

“I think in Spa and Monza there are the biggest gains you can get being behind another car and I don’t think it’s going to be an issue in most of the tracks.

“In the next race for sure not, everyone will try to find a clear gap. For tracks like this, it has always been like that.

"Now it’s maybe a bit more extreme with the cars generating more drag, so there’s more of a game to be in the slipstream.”