F1 News
Bottas relieved to take pole: "Not my best qualifying"
Valtteri Bottas is dealing with a new teammate in Bahrain, but that has not affected his form in qualifying. In the first weekend in Bahrain he was already strong and on the shorter layout the Finn was again very strong. The difference with his team mate, George Russell, was small, but enough on pole position for Sunday's race.
"It wasn't one of my best qualifyings, but I'm happy it was enough," Bottas told Sky Sports after the session.
"It's a different situation but just wanted to focus on my own doing ad not to waste energy anywhere else and managed to do that. Strategy wise we are in a good place. It's good to see George locking out the front row. Not my best qualifying but I am happy.
"It's a bit of an unknown and it's not easy to follow cars but we will see. Seems like a MIckey Mouse track," the Finn added.