Valtteri Bottas says he hopes his first pole position in Formula 1 is the first of many after narrowly beating team-mate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying in Bahrain.
The Finn’s second lap in the final segment was enough to snatch pole by just 0.023s of a second, bouncing back from a disappointing Chinese Grand Prix.
Bottas acknowledges this year is his fifth season in the sport and believes the result has been a long time coming.
“Obviously I’m really happy – the first pole in my career,” he said. “It’s my fifth season in F1, so it took a few races, but hopefully it is the first of many.
“A big thanks to the team for giving me this car to drive. We are both starting on the front row and I really managed to get a lot of lap time out of the car in cooler night time conditions.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s grand prix, Bottas says he cannot afford to start dreaming of what might be but aims to get the maximum out of the opportunity.
“As a team we need to enjoy this [pole] for a short period of time,” he added.
“The main thing is tomorrow and there is no point to start dreaming about anything.
“We need to work together as a team to plan a good strategy and for me, it’s just about focusing on the race and getting the maximum out of it.”
