Bottas started sixth on the grid after mistakes on his final runs in Q3, starting behind
Daniel Ricciardo and
Pierre Gasly.
The Finn was overtaken at the start by Hulkenberg and then had a many lap battle in the latter stages with Ricciardo, to ultimately take a fourth placed finish.
Bottas said (quoted by
RaceFans):
“I felt really good in Q1, Q2. “From Q2 I had a clear idea of how to improve, where to improve and I was really confident. And then it really came down to a silly mistake. “So it’s not ideal but I have to move on. Maybe a bit of a wake-up call again, for sure I can always learn from that.” Temperature was one of the main issues he encountered throughout the race, mainly due to the car being setup to perform further up the grid from qualifying than expected.
“[Sunday] was a degree or two warmer than everyone maybe thought it was going to be," he added.