Bottas rules "anything can happen" after sprint qualifying blistering

Sam Hall
Saturday 17 July 2021 18:06

Valtteri Bottas started and finished the 17 lap sprint qualifying third but believes "anything can happen" with the top three all suffering blistering.

F1 title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen started on medium compound tyres with Bottas on the soft rubber, but all three saw blistering on the front right.

Running with significantly lower fuel loads than will be used on Sunday and in cooler temperatures, this will be of great to concern to all 10 teams.

He said: "I think today shows that tomorrow is not going to be easy and if it is going to be a bit warmer then we might see more issues so at least now we are aware and tomorrow anything can happen."

Of the gamble to start on soft tyres, Bottas reflected the potential benefit was negated when the Finn was unable to pass Verstappen in the opening exchanges, his move blocked by Hamilton who had made a poor start.

"We tried to do something different and obviously, the target was to try and get him at the start or on the first lap. It didn't happen," he explained.

"I think he had a good start as well. In turn one I was slightly blocked so I couldn't really use the momentum but we tried and in the end, I still managed to keep the place with the soft tyre even though there was some blistering."