Valtteri Bottas explains Germany qualifying deficit to Lewis Hamilton

Valtteri Bottas

Bottas explains Germany qualifying deficit to Hamilton

The Red Bull of Max Verstappen split them.

Matthew Scott

Saturday 27 July 2019 19:29

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Valtteri Bottas explained that braking issues throughout qualifying hampered his efforts, putting it down to the sizable gap o pole-sitting Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Bottas starts third on the grid in Hockenheim after Max Verstappen got the better of him, although both were more than three tenths of a second down on Hamilton, who was in a class of his own after the Ferrari's of Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc – favourite heading into quali – succumbed to mechanical issues.

The Finn believes his gap may be explained by his discomfort under braking.

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"As a team we overall had a good result – Lewis did a really good job in qualifying – also we got a bit lucky with the Ferraris, so we don't know how quick they could have been in Q3," he said.

"In qualifying I struggled a lot with the brakes, in Turn 2 especially, six, then eight – so all the big braking [zones].

"I was locking up many times, going straight. Confidence under braking and the bite of the brakes was varying from one lap to the other, so that made it difficult.

"I felt like maybe two or three tenths I could have improved in quali three by getting everything spot on, but it was not more than that. So it was not the easiest qualifying, I'm keen to have a look why.

"[The issue was a] little bit surprising. I think yesterday was a bit tricky overall, this was down to the temperature, it's quite sensitive and [I] didn't get many clean laps.

"Practice three I felt good, I was really looking forward to the qualifying and knowing that things had improved and should be all good. But I struggled a lot with braking in the qualifying, and just the consistency was not there.

"I wasn't always sure when I hit the brake pedal what was going to happen – if I'd lock the front or not."