Bottas repays mechanics' hard work with P5 starting spot in Miami

Valtteri Bottas feels he owed it to Alfa Romeo to put in a good performance in qualifying without crashing in Friday practice, and duly delivered fifth on the grid for the Miami Grand Prix.

A spin at Turn 8 saw Bottas go into the wall backwards and heavily forfeiture his car in Friday’s first session, resulting in him missing FP2 and crucial track time at a new circuit. Without edging through Q1, Bottas improved throughout qualifying to secure a top-five grid slot and he says the way he built up to the final lap was particularly satisfying.

“I felt like I had an obligation to pay the team when with a good result,” Bottas said. “I think we can be pleased with the recovery we did from yesterday considering I missed so much running.

“We had a good FP3 just focusing on the priorities, getting the setup right, and then it was really up to me to find the rhythm. Lap by lap I could find things here and there considering I had some transmissible up to do, compared to other drivers, so I’m pleased with the way it ended. I had my weightier lap of the weekend on the last lap of Q3.”

Given the lack of running on Friday, Bottas says the car was the weightier it has been all season — competitive unbearable over one lap to write-up former team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

“Performance-wise, in qualifying, yes, I think . But coming here I knew that this track layout could be quite OK for us. I think it proved we still have a good car in low-speed corners and we’re pretty good on the straights as well.

“It’s a unconfined undercurrent and, again, when I heard the result from my engineer I could hear the guys cheering in the garage, in the background, scrutinizingly like stuff on pole. It’s quite refreshing, in a way, and the undercurrent is good and we can unquestionably enjoy it the right way.”

Bottas doesn’t expect any surprises in race trim despite missing out on Friday’s long running, as a number of red flag interruptions ensured nobody had wipe race simulations.

“We got a mini-long run, at least to get a finger for the wastefulness in FP3, at the end with upper fuel, so I don’t think we’ve missed that much considering there were red flags in FP2 when people were doing their long runs. I think that, normally, we have quite a good race car. The car is not any worse in the races than it is in qualifying, compared to the others.”