Qualifying Notes:
Valtteri Bottas finished third and Felipe Massa fourth in qualifying for tomorrow’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The team recorded a fifth second row lockout as it aims to secure third position in the Constructors’ Championship at the final race of the season.
Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: The team has done a really good job today; we have qualified where we should have done and got everything right. We have done our homework so we start the race in a good position tomorrow. We are now looking at getting the strategy right and making sure we have all the bases covered to make sure we are prepared for the final race of the season tomorrow. .
Valtteri Bottas: It is important for the team to get third in the championship and we have set ourselves up well to achieve that. I also have a good chance to regain fourth in the Drivers’ Championship and so will be focusing on that as well. That was one of the best laps I have done in qualifying all season, throughout the session I worked the times down and got it all together when it mattered. I will be ready to fight for any opportunity to move forward in the race tomorrow.
Felipe Massa: We are starting in the best positions we could tomorrow. I potentially had the pace to be in front of Valtteri but I didn’t put together my final lap after I locked up. The car is showing good performance for tomorrow and another second row lockout is encouraging. The tyre degradation will be vital tomorrow, so this will be important for the strategy. A podium is possible so I will fight hard for that as it would be a great end to the season.
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