Valtteri Bottas started the 2022 season by moving to the last round of qualifying in all Grands Prix. In the opening round of Bahrain, the Alfa Romeo finished in sixth place, while in Saudi Arabia he managed to finish in eighth position.
However, at the Melbourne event the Finn had to settle for 12th fastest time, thus ending his incredible run of 103 Q3 appearances.
Although this is a record in the modern era of the Grand Circus with the current qualifying system, he showed his frustration by not being able to at least match Alain Prost ‘s mark of 109 consecutive races by finishing inside the top ten on Saturday.
The legendary French driver is the second all-time on the list, behind Ayrton Senna , who managed to do it 137 consecutive times.
Bottas admitted that, after the first two races, he hoped to be in the final round of qualifying every weekend: “That should be the goal, to always be in Q3, and it’s a bit disappointing in a way, but that’s where it’s at.” where is the car”.
“Now my record of 103 times in Q3 is over, so maybe I can celebrate tonight,” said the Alfa Romeo driver . “I was hoping to get to Montreal, where I would have passed Prost for the top 10, but it’s all good.”
The Finn admitted that Alfa Romeo did not have the necessary pace in Australia, highlighting the late decision to switch to a smaller rear wing after the third free practice session and the FIA announcing the removal of one of the DRS zones. .
“I had two good laps in Q2,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com. “The first and second attempts went well, but not fast enough, I was a few tenths short.”
“It was a bit surprising, because I thought we should be in Q3, but the only reason I can think of now is that we chose a smaller wing on my car since the DRS zones changed,” he said.
“It’s better for the race, but for qualifying maybe I paid a small price for it, I just based it on the FP3 times and where we were I think it was fine,” Bottas continued.
The Finn also said that removing one of the moving wing sections didn’t have a big impact on his car: “It went well, as if there were no problems, we haven’t had any porpoising so it hasn’t changed anything for us.”
“Just maybe that led to the decision to change the downforce, and I think it’s the right thing for tomorrow, but I’m not sure about today,” said the 32-year-old.
Bottas agreed that being out of Q3 was a sign of how competitive the middle zone is today, where any mistake is expensive: “It’s so close that, if you fail at something, either in the set-up or the driving, you accuse him, but it’s exciting, because it will be a nice battle tomorrow”.
“I’m sure I have to take advantage of the opportunities again, and I’m convinced that there will be, so I hope we have a clean race and get points,” said Bottas, who fitted a new gearbox, although it is no longer a reason for a sanction. which falls within the four allowed by the regulations.
