Valtteri Bottas will start the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring from seventh place on the grid after admitting to struggling in the mixed conditions of the third segment of qualifying.
The Williams Martini Racing driver initially qualified eighth, but inherits one place due to the penalty for Sebastian Vettel, but bemoaned the issue trying to get heat into the slick Pirelli tyres after the track had dried sufficiently after a rain shower.
Bottas is hopeful that the race is better for the team, and feels a double top-five finish for him and team-mate Felipe Massa would be a good result.
“Qualifying was a special case today with the conditions in Q3,” said Bottas. “Everything was looking good in Q1 and Q2 in the dry, but tyre warm-up was difficult in the mixed conditions.
“In the beginning we struggled with the intermediate tyres, and once we got onto the slicks the main problem was to try to get heat into the tyres.
“But the race is tomorrow and there is the possibility to overtake here, so I’m sure we can have a better day. I think in any conditions we need to try to aim to have both cars in the top five, that’s a good target for us tomorrow.”
