If Valtteri Bottas had beaten Lewis Hamilton’s best time in Q3 this Saturday in Turkey, the Briton would have been forced to start not 11th but 12th in the race tomorrow. Quite appropriately, Valtteri Bottas has therefore signed “only” the second fastest time, beating the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. This is the ideal scenario for Mercedes.
But was the Finn asked to slow down at the end of Q3 so as not to beat Lewis Hamilton? We can think so on paper because otherwise, why would Mercedes have made Lewis Hamilton leave the track much earlier than the others, to on the contrary launch Valtteri Bottas last?
But the future Alfa Romeo driver rejected this thesis: no, he did not receive a radio call from James Vowles…
“No, I was not asked to slow down and I went all out. I started to have a bit of trouble with the front end in the last sector so I had a bit of understeer in turns 12 and 14, I could feel I was wasting a bit of time. I probably used the tires too much earlier in the lap. So, I was all for it, that’s for sure. “
” It was a good session and obviously as a result for us as a team it was ‘is ideal and perfect in a way, with the situation we have and the Lewis penalty. The session itself, Q1 was tricky with the conditions and to be fair even at the end of Q3 there were still a few spots where there were a few wet patches and you had to be a little careful or find the best way. to bypass them. “
” But I enjoyed it. Still, the level of grip was decent and since the start of the weekend the car has been in a pretty good window in terms of tuning so we didn’t need to make any massive changes. »
Valtteri Bottas still hasn’t won this year and he has a golden opportunity to do so tomorrow …
“I will focus on my own race tomorrow. I think that’s the best way to go when you go out on top. Hope I can keep my good pace. “
” I am very motivated. I haven’t won this season yet. It’s a big motivation for me, but I have to focus on certain things in the race, step by step, to keep the focus and hope for the best. ”
Hamilton also aims for victory
As for Lewis Hamilton, he will therefore have a lot to do tomorrow starting from only 11th place. Not enough, however, to curb his ambitions: he wants 25 points tomorrow!
“My sole objective is always to win the race . It will be very difficult to start from 11th place, but not impossible. “
” I don’t know what the weather forecast for tomorrow, so I stay on my guard and make sure that we will attack as much as possible tomorrow. »
However Toto Wolff fears for the recovery of the Briton, who had difficulty even overtaking Haas or Williams in free practice …
Is the Briton as worried as his team manager?
“The car was really good in the relay race – we had a pretty good balance. I think the track is very aggressive for the tires so it will be interesting to see how it goes for everyone in terms of the tires. But overtaking people is not going to be easy. You saw in the last race how difficult it was on the DRS train and without a doubt it will be something similar tomorrow. “
” It’s a long race, I hope there will be some rain – I have was surprised how fast the track is on wet tires, probably faster than any other track we have been on in the wet; interesting to see how it goes tomorrow. »
Fortunately, the pace of his Mercedes seems very solid …
“Overall the team is incredibly good this weekend – very, very precise with the timings, the guys in the garage as always continuing to be precise, everyone at the factory pushing and maximizing everything from there. car. “
” The car feels good since we arrived this weekend and we made small adjustments to the settings . As the track dried up it just got better and better – I think these guys were getting closer to the end, but they’re really happy with the end result. »
Video – The starting grid of the Turkish GP 2021:
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