F1 | Mercedes, Bottas sets the goal for Monte Carlo: "I have to be in front of everyone at the end of Q3"

from Monte Carlo, Monaco

It seems like a recharged Valtteri Bottas who presented himself at the Wednesday press conference in Monte Carlo. The Mercedes driver, obviously, is banking everything on Saturday's qualifying to try to get victory on the streets of the Principality, something he actually missed in 2019, when an Antony Noghes-like mistake didn't allow him to place ahead of Hamilton. In these first appearances of 2021 the Finn has shown himself to be quite competitive in qualifying, and the objective is to emerge on Saturday and then better control a race in which overtaking is borderline impossible.

“In 2019 I lost pole by less than a tenth, it all happened on the last corner – Bottas said. I had some understeer and I went too far on the curb, changing gear I also had skidding. At that moment I understood that it would be practically impossible to win the race. I'm looking forward to Q3: I've been doing well in the last period, so I have to make sure I'm first there, there's no point in Q1 or Q2, I have to build the lap through practice and maximize the work of free practice to put everything together in the third session".

“We will be close to Red Bull, we don't know the gap with them yet but I believe that as a team we have everything it takes to achieve pole and victory, we need to iron out the details. Our package looks very good, but the margins are so narrow that, especially compared to Red Bull, this could be a favorable track on paper for them. We are happy to be so competitive, but we don't know how much to win: we were able to work hard in Barcelona to prepare this one-of-a-kind Grand Prix also in terms of the car's set-up. We have prepared ourselves for the challenge we will face here, and the small details will make the difference."