Bottas: "As a team we didn't do a good job"

Valtteri Bottas was left frustrated by his performance in qualifying, despite securing P2 for tomorrow's race in Abu Dhabi. Bottas admitted that Red Bull and Max Verstappen did a great job as the Dutchman secured his first pole of 2020.

The Finn, whose future has been questioned recently, looked like he was set to take his sixth pole of the season before Verstappen completed his lap, pipping him by less than a tenth.

Bottas told Sky Sports: "Towards the end of qualifying it wasn't straight forward. All weekend we have been struggling to extract more out of the soft compound compared to the medium. So, I think today was the biggest difference to Red Bull. They were really strong on the soft tyres and we are really strong on the medium, but to be on pole you need the soft tyres.

"Towards the end of qualifying with the track temperature cooling down it was definitely not getting easier with the car balance. As a team we didn't go a good job. I think it's going to be a good battle at least in the top 3 and we can see that anything can happen in F1."