Qualifying Notes
• Valtteri Bottas qualified fifth and Felipe Massa sixth for tomorrow’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
• Both drivers made it safely through into Q3 after just one run on the option tyres in Q2.
• The team worked well to maximise the performance of the car in qualifying with Valtteri ending the session just 0.154s adrift of Räikkönen’s Ferrari in fourth.
Q1
V. Bottas: 1:34.161 (2nd)
F. Massa: 1:34.488 (4th)
Quickest Time: L. Hamilton: 1:33.928
Q2
F. Massa: 1:33.551 (3rd)
V. Bottas: 1:33.897 (6th)
Quickest Time: L Hamilton: 1.32.669
Q3
V. Bottas: 1:33.381 (5th)
F. Massa: 1:33.744 (6th)
Quickest Time: L. Hamilton: 1:32.571
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: It was a good qualifying for us, our cars are fifth and sixth quickest out there and we also saved tyres for the race. The team has worked well together, probably the best we have all year. We have maximised the potential from qualifying and have set ourselves up well for the race but we do still need a bit more performance out of the package to fight with the cars in front.
Valtteri Bottas: We are a little closer to the Ferrari in front but I expected a bit more, I’m not unhappy to get P5 as it is representative of our pace. The race is long and will be tougher than today, the start will be especially important considering Turn One can produce problems. As a team we did a good job, we got the best out of the tyres and it is refreshing to finally to get a clean qualifying session.
Felipe Massa: I did a great lap in Q2, so was upset not to replicate this in Q3 after a few mistakes. The best position I could have achieved today was P5 and Valtteri has that, so the cars are where they should be. Overtaking is possible here so we can have a good race, but tyre management and strategy will be important. I am not unhappy, we are not out of position and there is a long race ahead tomorrow.
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