Valtteri Bottas confirms to assisting Lewis Hamilton to top spot in British GP qualifying

Hamilton and Bottas at Silverstone — Photo: © LAT Images

British Grand Prix

Bottas confirms to assisting Hamilton to top spot in British GP qualifying

Bottas was third fastest as Hamilton topped qualifying at Silverstone

Sam Hall

Friday 16 July 2021 20:51 Updated: 21:19

Valtteri Bottas has confirmed he played the team game in helping Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton set the fastest time in qualifying for the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton beat Red Bull's Max Verstappen by just 0.075secs and will now start from the front of the grid for the inaugural sprint race on Saturday at Silverstone.

Although Hamilton's final run failed to improve on his first effort due to a mistake at Vale, Bottas revealed he had willingly played an assisting role to the seven-time F1 champion by providing a tow.

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Asked whether he had assisted Hamilton, Bottas replied: "Yeah, I think we are a team and we try to get the best results.

"I think it was a good qualifying based on what we saw in the practice how fast Red Bull was so we managed to get on pole as a team.

"This is the qualifying but then tomorrow we have the qualifying race and there is all the opportunity still."

Running qualifying on a Friday for the first time since 2003, the second phase will take place on Saturday with a 17 lap, 100-kilometre sprint race.

Bottas added: "There is all to play for and it's quite interesting to see how it goes tomorrow. Hopefully, we have good race pace but at least we are there and we're there to fight."

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