MONZA, Italy – Valtteri Bottas will start from the pole for Saturday’s Formula 1 sprint race at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza after securing the pole Friday in qualifying.
Bottas topped the traditional qualifying program, leading a Mercedes sweep of the front row ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton. Bottas registered a 1:19.555 during Q3, which was just enough to put him ahead of Hamilton’s 1:19.651.
“Pole position feels great and I really had fun and enjoyed it out there. It was beautiful lap, which I managed to save for the end,” Bottas said. “I felt relaxed in the car and I am happy with our work as a team. The car has felt good all day, with our performance little stronger than we perhaps expected, especially when you look at the gap to Red Bull. Hopefully it will be similar on the race pace for us.”
However, Bottas already knows regardless of where he finishes in the sprint race, he’ll have to start at the rear of the field for the Italian Grand Prix Sunday due to a power unit change.
“I know I’ll be starting from the back on Sunday with the PU (power unit) change but the focus is on tomorrow and trying to extract as many points as possible,” Bottas said. “We know Sunday will be a fight, but our pace is good and I’m sure we can finish strong then too. But our eyes are set on tomorrow and hopefully we have another good day.”
Championship leader Max Verstappen qualified third, followed by the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.
The sprint race, which will be 18 laps, pays points to the top-three finishers and sets the final starting grid for Sunday’s Italian Grand Prix.