Job still half done, says Bottas
abu dhabi — Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas may be in prime position to launch an assault on Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for second spot in the Drivers’ Championship, after clinching pole position for the season-ending Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but the Finn said it was job half done.
The 28-year-old, who joined the Brackley-based marquee from Williams this season, is in with a shot at second spot, currently held by Vettel. He is 22 points behind the German and could clinch it if he wins on raceday on Sunday and Vettel finishes ninth at the Yas Marina Circuit.
And although Bottas and teammate Lewis Hamilton locked the front row, Vettel lurks in third.
“It’s only the fourth pole of my whole career and I had to beat some pretty good qualifiers, so it’s a great feeling to start from P1 tomorrow (Sunday),” Bottas said after qualifying on Saturday.
“It was a really good qualifying, clean and smooth. With the changes we made, the car was behaving much better in qualifying than it did in free practice. Run after run, I could always find some time here and there, I really worked on the details,” he added.
Bottas was cautious though and said it wasn’t over just yet. “But the weekend is not over yet. We want to finish strong tomorrow as well. We were nearly there in Sao Paulo and now I get a second opportunity. It would mean a lot to end the season on a high,” said Bottas.
Bottas did add that no matter how it pans out on Sunday, he would still be pleased with how his season unfolded.
“However, no matter how tomorrow (Sunday) goes, it will be nice to head into the winter break knowing that I had the speed to be on pole two races in a row. That’s a good feeling and a good basis to start working for 2018,” Bottas, who won two races in Russia and Austria.
james@khaleejtimes.com