Valtteri Bottas will start the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday from the second row of the grid in fourth, but was slightly disappointed not to qualify ahead of the Ferrari of his fellow-Finn Kimi Raikkonen.
The Williams Martini Racing driver felt he turned in a good lap during qualifying, but feels he could be in with a chance of a podium finish during the race, which would be his first of 2015 so far.
“It was a good lap,” said Bottas. “I would have liked to be ahead of Ferrari but they are a still a bit quicker than us.
“Fourth is still a good place to the start and now we are maybe the closest to a podium we have been this season so the fight should be fun.
“This track suits us but it’s still difficult to predict how the race pace is going to be tomorrow. If it’s good then we can fight with the others around us for a podium.”
Team-mate Felipe Massa was disappointed with his qualifying, with the veteran Brazilian only being able to set the seventeenth best time in Q1 after a power issue with his Mercedes engine left him struggling.
“I lost a lot of power during the session, so we need to analyse what happened with HPP,” said Massa. “It’s a good track for us and I’m sure we were going to be competitive but unfortunately I could not do anything.
“At least it’s better to have the problem today than tomorrow. Starting the race 17th is difficult but the race is long and in Canada you can get opportunities, so we will try to get as many points as we can.”
