Valtteri Bottas was disappointed to see himself eliminated from qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix at the second hurdle as the Williams Martini Racing pace from Friday seemed to fade on Saturday.
The Finn had looked like he had done enough to progress to the top ten shootout only for both of the Sahara Force India F1 Team drivers, Fernando Alonso and Romain Grosjean jump ahead as they completed their final laps, with Bottas set to start eleventh, missing out on Q3 by just 0.060 seconds.
With team-mate Felipe Massa also eliminated, Bottas is expecting a tough afternoon on race day, especially in their battle with Nico Hülkenberg and Sergio Perez in the championship battle with Force India.
“It’s obviously disappointing to be out before Q3,” said Bottas. “Our pace all weekend has been very good, as has the set-up; but for some reason in qualifying we were just not quick enough, while some other cars were surprisingly fast.
“I doubt we got everything out of these cooler conditions today, but the race is tomorrow. It will be a fight with Force India again, but at least now we might have the upper hand with the strategy.”
