Bottas can "definitely fight" to extend 101 race Q3 streak

The Finn progressed into Q3 in all 101 of his starts for Mercedes, notching 20 poles during that time, in a streak that stretches back to his Williams farewell in the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP.

On Friday, Bottas notched the sixth fastest time in second practice at Sakhir with his qualifying simulation resulting in a 1m32.951s to finish 1.015s adrift of pacesetter Max Verstappen.

That came despite him only managing an out lap in FP1 after an electrical issue aboard his C42 created a misfire and he was side-lined for the rest of the one-hour session.

Despite the truncated running and not knowing the engine modes of his rivals, Bottas reckoned his Friday practice pace would allow him to “definitely fight” for Q3.

He said: “I would like to say where we are exactly, but the truth is, I don't know.

“It's close and you don't know how turned up different teams are.

“When we look at all the GPS data tonight, we will get some kind of understanding. But for me, the positive thing is it seems like we're not far off.

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“And I honestly think if we can find improvements, we can definitely fight for top 10.”

Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo F1 Team

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Bottas clarified that the electrical issue that reared its head in FP1 was separate to the glitches that blighted Alfa Romeo in testing in Spain and on the second day in Bahrain.

The team “changed pretty much all the electrical boxes” to resolve the issue and that “saved the day” for an “important session".

Should Alfa Romeo get a handle on its unreliability then the car’s behaviour with high fuel so far offered encouraging signs concerning race pace, according to Bottas, who completed two short runs on different Pirelli tyre compounds before a final long run in FP2.

Bottas told Autosport: “We did lack overall mileage in testing.

“I hope these start to be the last issues we're finding. Time will show.

“But absolutely, when the car works, especially on high fuel, it has a really nice balance and [feels] good to drive.

“Definitely potential is there and I don't think the lap times is far off as well.

“Even if you calculate how much somebody can improve, I think we're still looking into hopefully, if we find a bit more, to fight for the top 10.

“It will be nice to keep my streak going.”