Valtteri Bottas expressed delight as he claimed pole position for the first time in his Formula 1 career at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Bottas, having qualified third for the opening two rounds of the season, embarked on a head-to-head duel with Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Q3 at Sakhir.
Hamilton led the way after the first runs but Bottas fought back, edging 0.023s clear of the Briton’s benchmark lap, and was assured of pole position when Hamilton failed to improve.
“Obviously I’m really happy, it’s my first pole in my career, my fifth season now in Formula 1 so it took a few races but we got it, and hopefully it’s the first of many,” said Bottas.
“I just wanted to say a big thanks to the team giving me this car to drive it on pole and we’re both starting in the front row.
“We’ve made a really good job this weekend to focus on the evening conditions and to get a lot of lap time out of this car in slightly cooler conditions.
“Hopefully that’s going to help us tomorrow as well so I’m grateful to the team.
A magnanimous Hamilton heaped praise on Bottas and conceded that he lacked pace through the first sector.
“A big congratulations to Valtteri, he’s been working so hard, he’s gelled so well with the team, today he was just quicker, did the better job, so hats off to him,” said Hamilton.
“My first lap felt great, I looked up [at the timing screens] and the time was so close I thought ‘wow that was a great lap, he [Bottas] did a great job’.
“I was losing quite a bit of time through first sector, generally it’s my weaker point, actually unusual, as usually it’s a stronger point for me.
“Valtteri found some great pace through first sector, my second and third sector ended up being quite good, overall a little bit down.
“But it was a great battle, that’s how close qualifying should always be, it forces us to be on the limit, I’m generally happy with the job I did and great for the team to be 1-2.”
