Bottas Confident in Points Battle Despite Setbacks

After a disappointing Q1, Bottas remains hopeful of scoring points with improved car performance in Miami.

Valtteri Bottas did not advance from Q1, but the Stake F1 driver believes better preparation of his laps could have made a difference. He is pleased with the modifications made to his car between the Sprint and qualifying sessions.

“First of all, the setup changes since the Sprint have made the car much easier to drive. The first run was clean, I had traffic in the second and was too close to Zhou, which wasn’t ideal, but that’s how it sometimes goes,” Bottas stated.

However, the Finn is not giving up and believes that the top 10 is within reach: “We feel better about the car, we saw during the Sprint that the gaps between teams are very small, so I’m confident we can fight and aim for points.”

Guanyu Zhou posted the slowest time in the qualifiers and is frustrated by his inability to perform better, with a car that was neither fast nor easy to handle in that session.

“The car was a bit slippery, I’m not sure we would have had a chance to fight for 15th place. Oscar tried to pass me, and we were side by side in the first turn, which ruined my lap when it could have been very important for me,” Zhou regretted.

The Chinese driver is disappointed that the regulatory changes have not brought the desired effects: “We made significant changes, they don’t seem to be working in the direction we would have liked so far, so we need to understand what’s happening.”