Bottas ‘disappointed’ but ‘glad’ after qualifying in Hungary

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Valtteri Bottas qualified in P2 for Sunday's race

Valtteri Bottas qualified in P2 for Sunday's race

Valtteri Bottas has mixed emotions after qualifying on the front row of the grid for Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes man will line up in P2, behind his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, at the Hungaroring for the final race before the summer break.

The Finn is glad to be on the front row, but also disappointed that he was not able to lock down pole position in qualifying.

“We did a pretty good job but obviously we had to do something with Lewis [attacking],” Bottas said.

“It was not an easy session, very easy to make mistakes and in the end it came down to one lap.”

Bottas was the first of the big hitters to cross the line, and he took provisional pole position with his final lap in Q3.

However, it wasn’t to be, as Hamilton came through to take pole by 0.26s at the Hungaroring.

“From my side, I felt the lap was pretty good, I was up on the lap time, just last three corners felt really low grip, sliding a bit and crossing the line knowing I was on pole at the moment, I was waiting for the answer and then I saw Lewis just pipped me,” the Finn continued.

“Of course at that point I was disappointed and still am but I am really glad as well we can be here in Budapest one-two on the grid because track position here means a lot here in the race.”

Bottas is yet to win a race this year, thanks to bad luck and bad strategy calls, but he is hoping to break his duck on Sunday.

However, the Finn knows that it will be difficult, as both the Ferraris and Red Bulls seem to be quicker on their long run pace.

“I think from our numbers we were the third quickest team on the long runs – so I think tomorrow we really need to get everything perfect from the race start,” he added.

“It’s going to be really hot, a really long race. Overtaking is difficult but there’s many opportunities for the cars behind to get us if they have more speed. So we really need to be on it.”

Follow all the action from the Hungarian Grand Prix via the PlanetF1 race centre.