Bottas hopeful after P7: 'At least I'm not starting from the back'

Valtteri Bottas is often seen in the Formula One paddock as a specialist in Sochi. The Finn never finished the Russian Grand Prix lower than second place in his Mercedes days. In qualifying, Bottas was somewhat disappointing with a seventh place.

"Q1 and Q2 were going well, we seemed to be strong in the Inter conditions but in the end when it started to dry, we came in and obviously we were hopeful to get two timed laps. In the end, we only got one and couldn't get the tyres to work in one lap, it was too difficult to get the temperature into them," Bottas revealed in a press release from his team.

"All the cars ahead of us got at least two laps and that was the issue. It's not great but nowhere near over yet," Bottas continued. The Finn sees opportunities from seventh place and hopes to drive towards the podium.

"We have a strong car and I've had strong pace all weekend. At least I'm not starting from the back like in Monza so hopefully we'll be better and I can push on from P7", Bottas concludes.