Valtteri Bottas says his final bid for pole position in the Monaco Grand Prix was thwarted by low tyre temperatures due to traffic on his out-lap.
The Mercedes driver was quickest after the first runs in Q3, but lost pole to his team mate Lewis Hamilton after his final run. He was heard complaining “tyres not ready” on the radio after aborting his final run.“The issue was the traffic on the out-lap,” Bottas explained after qualifying second. “There was a lot of cars I had to stuck behind and then pass off-line and I got a bit of dust on the tyres. [Then] you can’t get it up to temperature and at this track it’s really critical.
“Already at turn one I felt the tyres were not there. Every corner was slower and slower until I had a big snap in turn eight. So that was it.”
Bottas passed Carlos Sainz Jnr on his approach to Tabac on his out lap, then had to back off as he caught Daniel Ricciardo and max Verstappen.
He said he was “really disappointed with the qualifying” today. “I really felt I had speed today, I felt really good in the car all day.”
At the last round Bottas started from pole position but was passed by Hamilton before the first corner. He admitted it will be very difficult to do the same to his team mate in tomorrow’s race.
“Here it’s a super-short distance from the start to the first corner so normally there’s not many position changes. But obviously as a team we want to be one-two again and obviouslyu we’ll be waiting for any opportunities that come up.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2019 F1 season
- Crying in the Melbourne car park at 2019 grand prix was my career low – Ocon
- McLaren Racing reports reduced £71 million loss in 2019
- Kvyat: Hockenheim podium last year was “my biggest achievement” so far
- How the FIA’s new encrypted fuel flow meter targets Ferrari’s suspected ‘aliasing’ trick
- “He smashed my office door”: 23 must-see moments from ‘Drive to Survive’ season two
Green Flag (@greenflag)
25th May 2019, 20:27
Bottas makes more excuses for his failures than any other good driver in F1. He’s a very good and fast so there’s no need, other than his fragile ego.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
25th May 2019, 20:46
but it will be the media asking him things, and as much as it sounds like excuses, he describes the reasoning very well and it could well be true. If he didn’t have to face the media, there would be none of these excuses out there.
Green Flag (@greenflag)
25th May 2019, 21:17
Handling the media well is part of being an F1 driver. Can’t avoid it.
Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
25th May 2019, 21:22
and he is handling. he’s just explaining why things were not ideal. Hamilton moans a fair bit more IMO. He was complaining of traffic before he started his lap in baku.
KGN11
26th May 2019, 8:34
But never said he lost pole because of it.
@HoHum (@hohum)
25th May 2019, 23:39
The real villain in this story is Pirelli, not the drivers. But it is not quite as bad as Bernie’s sprinklers.
Samouri (@samouri)
25th May 2019, 23:44
The worst excuse that Bottas can make, and complain about traffic, which may have compromised a qualifying run for him, especially in a place like Monaco
Blackbox (@blackbox)
26th May 2019, 9:22
Since everyone knows that in Monaco, the traffic (combined with the narrow operating windows of tires), can cause the driver to miss an opportunity for a clean lap, a driver cannot say that?
Why is it always an excuse when a driver (any driver) answers a question? Bottas was fastest in the first run, and as the track improved, there is no reason to believe he could not improve on his time. When asked why that did not happen, Bottas gave the reason.
PR Robot
26th May 2019, 11:33
The media were always going to ask this question. He could have said “just wasn’t my day, Lewis did a great lap, thanks to the team, real work is tomorrow,” but I thought we didn’t want PR robots.