Valtteri Bottas revelled in his first pole position of the campaign and insists no-one on the grid is hungrier than he is to claim victory in Austria.
Bottas opened a substantial advantage during the first Q3 runs and remained ahead across the second batch of runs despite renewed pressure from Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas set a new track record of 1:03.130 as he edged Hamilton by 0.019s to claim top spot for the first time in 2018.
The Finn has yet to triumph this year amid a series of missed opportunities, most notably in China and Azerbaijan, and outlined his eagerness to end his drought.
“The whole weekend we’ve been making good progress with the set-up,” said Bottas.
“We’ve got new bits in the car this weekend, we’ve been working to get the car well balanced with those and finally we did and the car felt so good.
“In the last run I knew there was still one tenth or so O could improve from the first run, managed to find and apparently I needed it.
“I just need a good, clean start, nothing amazing. No need to be a hero in Turn 1 and then go for it.
“I can guarantee I’m more hungry for a win than anyone else on the grid now I’m really going to go for it.”
Bottas holds fourth position in the Drivers’ Championship, 53 points behind team-mate Hamilton.
His most recent victory came in last year’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Discussion about this post