Valtteri Bottas targetted a top 5 finish in the Imola GP after an impressive drive through the field. The Finn then went on to deliver on target by finishing P5 in the main race.
Earlier, Bottas had his qualifying hampered by a reliability issue that forced him to start in P8 for the Sprint race. He, however, showed impressive speed as he picked off multiple drivers one by one and was challenging Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren by the time the Sprint ended.
Speaking to the media post-Sprint, Bottas exclaimed that a top-5 finish was the target for the Imola GP. He said:
“Top 5 tomorrow! I think that needs to be the target for us. we do have the pace for it, if we get everything right and also luckily the tires, they lasted nicely today in our car so it gives me hope for tomorrow but yeah, first of all, we need to take the learnings from today and then move on.”
Speaking about the sprint, Bottas revealed that he was pleasantly surprised by how well the tires lasted. He also thanked the team for the repair job as the Finn had to abort qualifying after his first lap in Q3 earlier. He said:
“Yes, difficult start this time with some wheelspin, so need to take the learning for tomorrow’s start. But yeah, afterwards very happy with the sprint race. The team did a great job with the chassis change, huge job for the guys, and everything perfectly so that was good and it was nice to feel that way. We have a strong pace, I thought I could really do some overtakes. I was catching the McLaren towards the end so tomorrow should be fun.”
Valtteri Bottas achieves his target by finishing P5 in the 2022 F1 Imola GP
Valtteri Bottas made good of his goal of finishing in the top-5 in the Imola GP. The Finn had an impressive race as he showed consistent speed and better tire management that helped him close the gap to the front.
If it wasn't for a bad pitstop, Bottas had such pace that he could have had an outside shot at finishing on the podium. He finished the race in P5, right on the tail of George Russell's Mercedes after closing down a gap of close to 12 seconds to the British driver.
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