Valtteri Bottas targets Ayrton Senna Alain Prost F1 records

Australian Grand Prix

Bottas targets Senna Prost F1 records

Bottas dropped out of the points after reliability trouble caused him to retire in Saudi Arabia

Sam Hall

Friday 8 April 2022 16:10

Valtteri Bottas has his sights set on extending his record-breaking Q3 streak to 104 races at the Australian Grand Prix.

Alfa Romeo driver Bottas last failed to reach Q3 at an F1 weekend at the 2016 Brazilian Grand Prix when contesting his penultimate qualifying session for Williams.

Although his streak of Q3 appearances is a record of its own, Ayrton Senna holds the record for consecutive top 10 qualifying positions after achieving the feat 137 times.

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Slightly more in reach for Bottas is Alain Prost's tally with the three-time champion qualifying inside the top 10 at 109 consecutive races.

"I think I need to keep my Q3 streak going," said Bottas. "I don't want to give up on that so that should be the goal and I think it is realistic but it is so close getting into the top 10.

"But I believe we have the car to do it if we set it up right."

Bottas battling in high speed

Bottas ended Friday practice in Australia seventh-fastest behind the Red Bull, Ferrari and Alpine pairings.

Assessing his session, the Finn explained: "It was nice to be able to progress with a set up today so definitely, the car was improved in practice two compared to practice one.

"I was still battling a bit with high-speed rear stability in the high-speed corners so we're definitely losing there but still, in the low-speed corners, medium-speed corners, the car is pretty good but I'm sure we can still make it better."