Hamilton helped me prepare

(Motorsport-Total.com) – Valtteri Bottas had success in Spielberg’s qualifying (Formula 1 2021 live in the stock bar) and managed to finish second ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. The Finn also managed it with the help of his teammate, who was instrumental in finding the right setup for Bottas. Because before qualifying, Bottas had “lost” a bit when it came to the right setup.

“We worked closely with Lewis to find the optimal setup, and we definitely got the advice from him in the garage this weekend,” Bottas admits. “I definitely lacked pace on Friday and was really confused about which direction to go. But as a team we found that.”

This way Bottas found the confidence he needed in the car to be fast on the Red Bull circuit. He took 32 milliseconds from his teammate, while polemicist Max Verstappen was already a tenth of a second missing.

“She’s no longer there,” Bottas admits. “Max and Red Bull were faster today. But it was a good lap and I’m happy with that.”

Finn downplays the fact that a colleague helped him set up and calls it “nothing new”. Because at Mercedes they are open about preparation and reveal what they are planning. “It’s not strange,” Bottas says. “We are currently learning a lot about the car and it is easy to get confused with which direction we should go.”

However, the Mercedes driver had already known of his disability at this point. Because despite qualifying ahead of Hamilton for the third time this season, he still has to start behind him. The race hosts gave him three penalty points for driving dangerously after a spin on the pit lane on Friday.

He has to get past Sergio Perez and Lando Norris first if he wants to catch up with his teammate again. “The middle area with fast corners and the last two corners is hard to follow in the back, but there are long straight lines,” he thinks of his chances.

“If you have the right speed and strategy, you can certainly still make progress,” Bottas said. That is the goal, too.”