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Valtteri Bottas: Change of weather key to qualifying result

Valtteri Bottas reckons the dry weather that greeted drivers on Friday was key to helping him secure third place on the grid for the Macau Grand Prix

The Finn arrived late in Macau following his Formula 1 test duties for Williams in Abu Dhabi - and had to run to the car from the ferry terminal to make it out for Thursday's first qualifying session.

But with the first dry running taking place on Friday, Bottas was not left at a disadvantage compared to his rivals - and set the fourth fastest time in qualifying.

He will move up one place on the grid because of Roberto Merhi's penalty for causing a collision in first practice.

"For sure the dry weather was good news for me because I didn't have any running really on the wet," said the Double R Racing driver. "I came straight for qualifying and I missed a few minutes of that one too - so in the end I didn't miss much with the race looking dry. I was lucky."

Bottas believes that his team will need to ensure its car is quicker on the main straight for the race, but he is confident he will be able to move forward.

"The car was good today," he said. "I was really happy with the car, and we didn't change anything.

"We just need to look a bit at sector one as we are losing there, like has been a little bit the case in the past few years also.

"For sure the race set-up will be different, so we will see then. I am happy with how things have gone so far. We did a lot of preparation before the race weekend coming here, so, so far, it is good."

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