Monaco GP: Valtteri Bottas targeting top 10 in qualifying despite FP1 woes

Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas says that he believes a top 10 qualifying spot is possible this weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix, despite missing a full session of running on Friday thanks to a power unit issue.

The Finn is having a fine season at the wheel of his Alfa with him regularly scoring points and challenging for the ‘best of the rest’ tag behind the Ferrari and Red Bull cars.

Indeed, he’s often mixed it with former employees Mercedes out on the race track and it’s clear that he is in some of the best form of his life, with him apparently enjoying the task of being a team leader alongside rookie Guanyu Zhou.

Friday in Monaco, though, was a little bit of a low point for him with him unable to get a single flying lap in during FP1 thanks to a power unit issue, which required two hours of work.

FP2 was better, though, as he managed to get some laps in and despite the disruption, he believes the car should be quick enough for another Q3 appearance later on today in qualifying:

“Not an ideal Friday, but we had a good recovery in FP2,” Bottas said on Friday evening.

“We lost the first session with a power unit failure that took two hours to fix, which is a shame as this really is a track where you need every possible lap to get fully comfortable: you don’t get to do too many clean laps either, with all the traffic, to prepare for qualifying, so it will be crucial to have a good FP3.

“FP2 was effectively my first session of the weekend, so I took it step by step. I know there is a lot of performance still to find, both in myself and with the setup, and I still think we have the potential to be in the top ten tomorrow. The car felt ok and I know we can be in the mix for Q3.”