Finding the “sweet spot” with the tyres was key to Valtteri Bottas’ impressive pole lap at the Eifel Grand Prix, the Finn says.
The Mercedes driver left it until the final moments of Q3 to produce a new lap record of 1m25.269s, enough to beat teammate Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen by a quarter of a second.
And commenting in parc ferme, Bottas, who is building some momentum after his victory in Sochi, was thrilled to get the job done.
“Thanks, it’s such a nice feeling when you get it in the last lap, in the last chance,” he said. “In the end, the lap in Q3 was spot on, just what I needed and it was nice to get it together.
“Pretty tricky, of course, with short practice and these conditions, getting the tyres in the sweet spot. That was one of the bigger things today, I think.”
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Indeed, the weather has been the topic on everyone’s mind all week in Germany, with fog causing both Friday sessions to be cancelled and temperatures not even reaching 10C on Saturday.
And Bottas, who is known for his rallying ability, does think he has adapted better than Hamilton.
“Yes, of course, we’re leaving the pit more or less at the same time and it was his decision to go first,” Bottas added.
“There are always different things you can do in the out lap, whether is about braking, weaving and this kind of things but, ultimately, I got the tyres there and the lap was really nice, I really enjoyed it.”
The Eifel GP represented Valtteri’s first pole since the second race at Silverstone back in August and, following on from his win in Sochi, the 31-year-old does think he can make it two victories in a row.
“Of course I believe so,” he said. “That’s the only goal for tomorrow. Hopefully we can have a good start.”
