Valtteri Bottas has rued the gap in qualifying to Sebastian Vettel as he was pipped to a front row place on the grid by just one thousandth of a second.
Having lost out to Vettel in Australia by just 0.025s and now and an even smaller gap in Shanghai which equates to a measurement of just 5.9cm, however Bottas admits it’s a shame but expects to be just as close in the race.
“Around one lap here, one-thousandth is not so much, It is a real shame he managed to between us.
“So, yeah, that’s a shame – but the race is tomorrow, we are starting as a team first and third and it is a good place to start, weather can be anything, really, tomorrow.
“Lewis was strong today and Ferrari was strong, we expected a close fight today on track and I think it will be the same case tomorrow.”
While the loss of a front row start may be a shame for Bottas, he claims he is feeling more comfortable every time he gets in the W08 despite the big learning curve he is having to take on.
“Definitely approaching this weekend compared to Melbourne, it was a different feeling,” Bottas added.
“That one full race weekend, doing qualifying and race with a podium finish was a nice start. So I’m definitely more comfortable.
“There is a big learning curve for me with everything and I feel better and better every single day and every single lap with the car.”
Bottas will be looking to have a better performance in China this weekend, last year he managed fifth place on the grid in the Williams, but fell back and finished in tenth after losing out to Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz in the final laps of the race.
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