Valtteri Bottas: “It’s a bit disappointing to be finishing just outside the top ten”

Valtteri Bottas admitted to being disappointed to miss out on points in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, with the Finn losing out on the final point to BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso.

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver had moved into points contention despite starting from the pit lane following a change of rear wing – he would have started at the back of the field anyway because of multiple penalties for unscheduled engine changes.

Bottas was running tenth only for Alonso, on fresher tyres, to come through and deny him that point, but climbing from the back gives him hope of a more confident French Grand Prix later this month.

“I was hoping for points today, that was the target, and it’s a bit disappointing to be finishing just outside the top ten,” said Bottas.  “In the last lap, Fernando was closing the gap pretty fast with a new set of tyres, and ultimately got me.

“Besides that, I think it was a good race, also strategy-wise, and we did everything we could given where we started: we just lacked a bit of pace, especially through the corners. At least, I managed to climb up the grid from a pitlane start, so that’s a positive to keep.

“We must keep progressing, since the other teams are doing so as well. I reckon France could be better for us, but we will need to qualify in better positions than we did here to maximise our chances come Sunday.”

“I feel we had a lot more potential in our car this weekend” – Zhou Guanyu

Team-mate Zhou Guanyu was also frustrated after the race at the Red Bull Ring, with the Chinese driver ending the day in fourteenth.

Zhou believed he had the pace for a better result after finding more pace in his C42-Ferrari when he switched to the Pirelli medium compound of tyre, but he was too far off the top ten after struggling for performance on the hard compound.

Despite missing out on point, Zhou says there are plenty of positives to take away from his first Austrian Grand Prix, and he will take confidence into the rest of the season.

“I feel we had a lot more potential in our car this weekend, so I am not happy with this result,” said Zhou.  “We looked strong yesterday, but today we spent the first part of the race stuck in a train and then struggled with the hard tyre.

“Once we switched to the mediums, I was a lot more at ease and I felt we were competitive, but by then it was too late to make it back into the points.

“The pace we showed in the Sprint yesterday and in the final stint today is a positive to keep, as well as the mileage that does help with my overall experience. I had some fun battles and enjoyed the close racing we had, but I wanted more from this weekend.”

Zhou Guanyu ended the Austrian Grand Prix in fourteenth – Credit: Xavi Bonilla / DPPI