Bottas happy to give Hamilton a tow in F1 British GP qualifying: “We’re a team”

Mercedes sent Bottas out ahead of Hamilton in qualifying at Silverstone, allowing the seven-time champion to benefit from a tow from the Finn’s Mercedes.

Bottas didn’t have this luxury but secured third on the grid with ease, within two-tenths of Hamilton who made a mistake on his final lap.

Reflecting on qualifying at Silverstone, Bottas was pleased with his performance given that he didn’t have a slipstream on his laps.

“Yes, I think we’re a team and we try to get the best results,” Bottas said after qualifying. “And you can see the fans enjoyed it. It’s good.

“I think it was a good qualifying, based on what we saw in practice how fast Red Bull was, we managed to get on pole, as a team. I was the first car out in the end of Q3, with now tow, so if I consider that, I think it was a good lap and, obviously, this is qualifying, but then tomorrow we have the qualifying race, so there are all the opportunities, still, and I’m looking forward to it.”

Bottas will have the opportunity to secure pole position on Saturday when F1 trials its sprint qualifying format.

The Finn believes “it is all to play for” with Mercedes seemingly taking a step forward in performance with its upgrades for this weekend.

“You know, it’s all to play for,” Bottas added. “It’s quite interesting, actually and it will be nice to see how it goes tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll have good race pace, but at least we’re there and we’re ready to fight.”

Bottas has two poles at Silverstone to his name, beating Hamilton in 2019 and at the 70th Anniversary Grand Prix last year.