Qualifying Analysis: Bottas' three laps good enough for pole

Little time has been wasted in the early part of the 2019 Formula 1 season in boiling the battle for the drivers’ championship down to the two Mercedes drivers. But if the opening four races are anything to go by, that fight should go into the very embers of the campaign.

Valtteri Bottas sent another warning shot the way of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix on Saturday, delivering one of the best one-lap performances of his F1 career to grab an emphatic pole position.

Being the teammate of the greatest qualifier in F1 history (statistically speaking, at the very least) brings its own pressure, but just in everything that Bottas has done at the start of this season, he has taken it all in his stride.

While Bottas may have topped both practice sessions on Friday, the momentum swung Hamilton’s way in FP3 as he led the way, half a second clear of the field. Bottas had lost some track time after spinning off at Turn 5 and beaching his car, triggering a red flag, leaving the Finn on the back foot heading into qualifying.

But Bottas bounced back, showing the new-found resilience he has added to his armoury in 2019 as he took the fight to Hamilton right away in qualifying. He was three-tenths up in Q1, and then became the first man to dip into the 1m15s range in Q2, pipping Hamilton’s lap by one-tenth of a second.

And then came Q3. Hamilton’s first effort was a scruffy one, compromised by being unable to charge up the battery properly, meaning he could only must a 1m16.040s – 0.002s slower than he went in Q2. Bottas, meanwhile, got everything hooked up to put in a 1m15.406s – a six-tenth gap over a teammate renowned for his qualifying prowess and ability over a single lap.

A drop in the track temperature combined with a bit of dirt on the circuit meant drivers struggled to improve on their second efforts, with Hamilton being told to ease off, leaving him two-tenths down on his best. Bottas was half a second down on his best time – but even that would still have got him pole.

That’s how far ahead Bottas was in qualifying today: any of his three best laps would have been good enough for pole position.

SPANISH GP QUALIFYING – BEST LAP TIMES

1.    Valtteri Bottas 1m15.406s (Q3)
2.    Valtteri Bottas 1m15.924s (Q2)
3.    Valtteri Bottas 1m15.958s (Q3)
4.    Lewis Hamilton 1m16.038s (Q2)
5.    Lewis Hamilton 1m16.040s (Q3)
6.    Sebastian Vettel 1m16.272s (Q3)

Today was Bottas’ third straight pole position, underlining how qualifying has become one of his biggest strengths and assets so far this year – something he recognised himself after the session.

“For sure in terms of qualifying performance, it has been so far my best start of the year in Formula 1 – but it’s not only about Saturdays,” Bottas said.

“It’s super-important and, depending on the track, but also the race performance and start performance. I think it’s going to be key – one of the key things for sure.”

On qualifying in Spain today, Bottas said: “It was really enjoyable and to get a nice lap like that is a nice feeling and a nice adrenaline rush.

“What makes it enjoyable is when the car is behaving, when the car is doing what you want it to do and what you ask it to do. I think as a team we have done an incredible job with the upgrades we brought here and with the set-up direction we’ve taken.

“I was really building up to the qualifying after a difficult FP3 with the spin and each run I always knew ‘OK, here I can improve’, and I managed to put it together for Q3.”

The middle seat in the post-qualifying press conference may have become familiar territory for Bottas this year, but so has the seat to his right – reserved for the man in P2 - for Lewis Hamilton.

For the third race in a row, Hamilton had trailed Bottas in qualifying – a scenario that had not previously happened during their time together at Mercedes.

“Valtteri did a fantastic job particularly once he got to Q3,” Hamilton said after the session. “It was a bit of a tacky Q3 for me, which is kind of rare for me, but it happens.

“They just weren’t very good laps, simple as that. Valtteri was just quicker today and rightly deserved the pole.”

Hamilton – the record-holder for pole positions in F1, remember - was asked after the session if he needed to consider a possible change to his Q3 approach given his run of defeats to Bottas.

“I don’t think it’s about Q3, I think it’s about the whole weekend and it’s the feeling that I have in the car,” Hamilton said.

“I just need to work on it so I don’t think it’s really about my approach in qualifying particularly.

“But of course I’m looking at all solutions, and I’ll get there eventually.”

The more of these edges that Bottas is able to get over Hamilton, though, the more the pressure will grow in the title race. Qualifying has traditionally been Hamilton’s territory, so to have suffered three straight defeats like this – and, particularly here in Spain, but such a massive margin – is food for thought. Points may be awarded on Sunday, but even the Saturday results can play a big role in building or losing momentum through a title fight.

The other big takeaway from qualifying was Ferrari’s failure to put up any kind of real fight to Mercedes in the fight for pole. At the track where the SF90 had looked so potent through pre-season testing, it was left lacking through the corners and particularly in the final sector, where Ferrari even trailed Red Bull.

Sebastian Vettel showed few signs of disappointment in the post-qualifying press conference, instead remaining rather matter-of-fact about the situation.

“It seems to be more than an Achilles’ heel at the moment,” Vettel said of Ferrari’s Sector 3 pace.

“I just spoke to Valtteri and they were both very happy with the car, especially last sector. For us, it was a bit more tricky.

“I think we got everything out of the car in the first run. In the second run I had to try something different and it didn’t work, but yeah, happy but not happy, if you know what I mean.

“The car doesn’t feel bad, but obviously we are not quick enough.”

Both Bottas and Hamilton said they were surprised by the gap to Ferrari, who had been expected to fight back in some degree.

“Definitely we expected Ferrari to be closer,” Vettel said. “Based on winter testing, this seemed to be a track that really suits them and since the practice, we saw yesterday that we were in good form.

“We have been doing a good job as a team with the direction we’ve been taking the car in, in terms of where to find the performance and how and so on, so we’ve done a really good job on that and I think we’re all impressed.”

Much as the title race is quickly becoming a two-horse race, it is difficult to see anyone not wearing white winning tomorrow’s race barring anything out of the ordinary.

And if Bottas can chalk up another victory and begin to eke out a gap to Hamilton, it would leave the title battle in a fascinating place heading to Monaco.