Valtteri Bottas is predicting a closely fought Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday despite claiming pole position, with the Ferrari pair of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen lining up behind him in second and third on the grid.
Bottas claimed a third career pole position at Interlagos by only 0.038s from Vettel. His team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, failed to set a lap in qualifying after crashing in Q1, leaving only one of the Silver Arrows at the sharp end of the grid for the penultimate round of 2017.
"I feel good. Still a bit shaky, you know, it’s just a great feeling," said Bottas after qualifying. "It was just a nice lap especially with Sebastian and Kimi getting good laps in. Obviously Lewis was out in the beginning which was a shame for us.
"It’s really good to start from pole from here. We have a good car, it’s going to be a close race together with Ferrari but we’d rather start from the pole. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
"It’s not really an easy circuit to overtake. Avoiding mistakes is one thing, but the start here is always exciting. It’s going to be a long race, many things can happen and I’m looking forward to it and thank you to all the mega fans for all their support," he added.
With two races remaining, Bottas currently lies in third positon in the Drivers' Championship, only 15 points adrift of Vettel. With 50 points still available this season, it is imperative that the Finn beats Vettel on Sunday if he is to achieve his goal of securing a career best finish in the standings.
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