Valtteri Bottas after Q2 Elimination: “It’s disappointing, but we’re not far off”

Valtteri Bottas admitted that he was disappointed to miss out on a Q3 spot by only a tenth of a second but feels confident that the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN can get a good result in the race at the Suzuka International Racing Course as they were not far off the pace compared to their rivals around them.

The Finnish driver qualified in twelfth place in Qualifying for Sunday’s race at Suzuka and will be hoping that the new upgrades that the team have brought to Japan will help them to remain competitive as they aim for a potential double points finish.

Bottas reflected on his and the teams result in qualifying and feels confident that with an unclear forecast for tomorrow’s race, he admitted that he wouldn’t mind some wet conditions as they looked strong in the rain on Friday and it may boost their chances of gaining some places.

“It feels like we really got everything out of our lap and we didn’t leave anything out there: unfortunately, that was not enough for a spot in Q3, and we missed out by less than 0.1s. Both my Q2 laps were pretty good, but it shows how close the midfield is that a mere few hundredths of a second can make such a big difference: it’s disappointing, but we’re not far off and we know we will be battling for the points.”

“Tomorrow is when it really matters and the forecast is still not clear yet. We looked good in the rain yesterday, so I wouldn’t mind some wet weather we can use to climb a few places.”

Zhou Guanyu: “We are still in a position to target the points tomorrow”

Zhou Guanyu was feeling relatively happy after qualifying in fourteenth place on the grid for tomorrow’s race as he admitted that it was a decent result for his first time around Suzuka’s very technical circuit.

The Chinese driver went out in the second round of qualifying alongside his team-mate as they both will start from the back half of the grid on Sunday but, both Alfa Romeo drivers are confident that they can make up places and pick up some points.

The rookie also admitted that with the potential of some rain during the race tomorrow, that this could pose an advantage for the team who looked strong in the wet conditions on Friday and may make the race a more entertaining one for the fans.

“I am quite happy with what I could do today, especially considering I only had one session to get used to this track in dry conditions, being my first time on this very technical circuit.

“We made good progress throughout the day and things were looking quite promising, but Q2 was really tight in the midfield. We were so close to Q3, but in the end it was a bit too far from us: still, we gave everything we could.

“We are still in a position to target the points tomorrow and, if it rains, all bets are off. We looked strong in the wet on Friday: if there’s a bit of rain tomorrow, we could have an even better chance, and it could be a really entertaining race for everyone.”

Zhou Guanyu will start fourteenth for his first Japanese Grand Prix – Credit: Octane Photographic Ltd