Abu Dhabi: When Valtteri Bottas raced here last at Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, he was driving for the Williams and the outing ended up in shambles. After just six laps of the scheduled 55, he was out of the race with a suspension failure.
Understandably at the pre-race press conference, the Finn made it clear that the he is not a fan of this circuit at all and felt that the track was ‘quite average’.
However, in the qualifying, Bottas showed he was simply flawless to say the least and secured his fourth pole position of his career with a track record time of 1:36.231 — this time driving for his dream team Mercedes.
“I never said I don’t like the track but yes I said it was average. It is always nice to have good memories from the circuit. But it is pole position and it is not about track, the point is to perform in every single track. That will be my goal for the future,” said a delighted Bottas, adding that it was a very clean session.
“I managed to find time every run. The car was feeling much better than any point of the weekend and that allowed me to work on the details,” added Bottas, who had also captured pole in Brazil but failed to capitalise on it and had to settle for the second spot.
“I’m really happy. I was so gutted in Brazil in the last race to be on pole and missing out on the win. I have a clear target for tomorrow,” Bottas, who was beaten in Brazil by Sebastian Vettel after the Ferrari drive took a bold move on the inside to take the lead from former in the first corner.
Hamilton, who was hoping for his 12th pole of the season was second fastest but he couldn’t improve on his time when it mattered. “The last qualifying of the year and I gave it everything but I seem to have lost a little pace going into qualifying. Valtteri did an exceptional job, so I‘m really happy for him,” said Hamilton, who heaped words of praise for his teammate Bottas saying, “What a lap from him, he just had an incredible qualifying and congratulations to him.” Vettel, the four-time world champion, qualified third and will be alongside Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second row of the grid for Red Bull.
“Tomorrow with the race pace, I think we can be a bit closer but Mercedes have been very strong. It should be a fun race, overtaking is not always straightforward but not impossible here so let’s see,” said Vettel.
Brazilian veteran Felipe Massa, who will be hanging his boots after this race, will start on 10th place on the grid for the Williams. “It’s a good way to retire with some good finish, good lap times. I‘m happy that I‘m finishing with my head up. I want to have fun tomorrow. I have nothing to lose, risk everything you can. Let’s have fun.”
