Valtteri Bottas was behind the eight ball before qualifying started on Saturday afternoon with the Mercedes f1 team forced to replace his new engine with the older one that has contested the previous four races of the 2017 F1 season.
However, the Finn didn't let it get him down and went out and joined in the tight fight for pole potision, eventually finishing a close third behind his pole winning teammate, Lewis Hamilton and the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel.
“For most of the weekend we've had the edge on Ferrari but in Q3 they raised their game,” he said. “For me starting the day with the engine change and moving back to the old engine, I was always going to be on the back foot. I really struggled through qualifying with the rear stability of the car, so it was difficult to find a good rhythm."
"It wasn't one of my best qualifying sessions but I'm happy with the job that the team has done. You could see Lewis was very strong and quick today. It's a shorter run down to Turn 1 than in Sochi, but we've seen in the past that you can make positions from the second row. I've done some good things from P3 before. Everything is still wide open. We're happy with the race pace and upbeat for tomorrow. “
“I think he was probably lacking some miles after the engine change this morning; he had the pace but small mistakes on each lap meant he couldn't get on the front row,” added Toto Wolff, Head of Mercedes-Benz Motorsport.
All eyes will be on the front of the pack when the lights go out to see if Valtteri does a repeat of his brilliant start in Russia two weeks ago.
