© Jiri Krenek for Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix Ltd.
Valtteri Bottas, who will start the United States Grand Prix from P9 due to an engine related penalty, says it will not be easy to overtake Ferrari and McLaren.
Valtteri Bottas qualified for the US Grand Prix in P4, but due to an engine swap, he will start the race from P9.
To be able to join the fight at the top of the field, he will have to overtake both Ferraris, both McLarens and an AlphaTauri.
“They’re not the easiest cars to overtake for sure,” Bottas said after qualifying.
“And based on what I felt yesterday, following was quite quite tricky, but at least it seems like it’s going to be more or less a two-stop race, so there will be at least two opportunities with the strategy.
“And you never know, there will be opportunities.”
The Finn also says qualifying didn’t go according to plan for him.
“Of course I tried to be as high as I could, but the issue for me was the second run in Q3 was quite messy in the last sector.
“I had some front locking and understeer and just lost a lot of time. So even the first lap it was half decent, but sector three wasn’t that good. It is what it is, so I’ll start ninth.”
Valtteri also gave his comments on Red Bull’s improved pace since Friday’s free practice.
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“Yesterday [Friday] they looked okay, but nothing amazing, so I think they found a bit more than we did overnight.
“For me the car felt a lot better than it did yesterday, but still Red Bull made a bigger step with performance, and they definitely had the upper hand today. I still think race pace wise it’d be quite similar.”
And, finally, the Finn gives his comments on the five-place grid penalty he will have to serve in the race, due to his third engine swap in the last four races.
“It is unfortunate, and is obviously quite unlucky as well, so many times in the recent races. But at least now it’s only a five-place penalty.
“But it never helps when you are fighting for every single point, it makes things more difficult. But fingers crossed, the rest of the year will go okay, and without penalties.
“We know what the problem always is, it’s sometimes a bit different, mostly the same. But there’s no proper solution yet, but at least the engine I’ve been running here we’ve not seen any issues.
“And also the other one that I have in the pool, which is still quite fresh, that’s working okay. So I hope that with these two engines I can make it to the end,” concluded Bottas.
