Bottas managed to deny Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton back-to-back pole positions at Silverstone by going six hundredths of a second faster with his final lap in Q3.
It marked an impressive turnaround for Bottas, who had completed three-tenths of a second Hamilton commercial in qualifying for the British Grand Prix last Saturday at Silverstone.
“From last weekend to this week, we were just working on everything we could improve with the car, and also for us, me and Lewis running, we were trying to find more,” Bottas said.
“We have been able to find, in terms of set-up, and at least for me, rhythmically, a little more. The same process goes on all weekend, so we could go in the right direction from the start of this weekend until qualifying . “
Bottas said after practice on Friday that he felt on a much better footing during the race weekend compared to last week, and explained after qualifying that there was an endgame set-up he had been working on.
“Obviously I can not go into too much detail, but we were able to improve the car setup for me,” Bottas said.
“I had a small deficit in qualifying last weekend, just what the direction was. I do not think it was a bad race car, but I hope it is now optimized for both [qualifying and the race].
“Between the races, we analyze everything from the weekend of the race, setup, my driving, in qualifying and in the race. I try to do it better, and at least today I have managed to do a few things better. then that last weekend.
“It’s pretty standard process to be honest. I don’t want to go into details of the setup, but it was definitely better in qualifying today than a week ago.”
Tire wear was a concern for all drivers by qualification, with many finding that the soft connection did not last long, even for one-lap runs in Q3.
Bottas eventually switched to medium tires for his final run to pole position, and will also start on the yellow-ringed connection in tomorrow’s race.
But the Finn said he did not expect to be able to complete tomorrow’s race at just one stop, given Pirelli’s deacons to offer a softer selection of tires than last weekend at Silverstone.
“One-stop here could be pretty tricky with the connections we have this weekend,” Bottas said.
“I think things will be a little different than last weekend when it comes to strategy. I’m sure the boys will spend the night after all their options.
“Of course myself, the expectations for tomorrow, there is nothing more to win the race when you start from the pole.”
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