- Italian GP - Qualifying
Bottas eyeing victory at Monza
Valtteri Bottas says there is no reason to think Williams cannot challenge Mercedes for victory from the second row of the grid at the Italian Grand Prix.
Bottas and Felipe Massa took the fight to Mercedes in qualifying but in the end had to settle for third and fourth respectively. Despite Mercedes seeming to find another gear in Q3 - with Hamilton's pole time six tenths clear of Bottas - the Finn thinks it might be a different story over race distance.
"I really hope so," Bottas said when asked if he can win on Sunday. "But from Friday to today they [Mercedes] seem to have a bit more pace. In qualifying we expected maybe we could be a little bit closer to them, but I really hope so. I really felt today there was not much more in the car. So, we still have some work to do [to get closer to Mercedes]."
Though he intends to take the fight to Mercedes, Bottas is also cautious about adopting a too risky approach to the race.
"I think we have solid race pace and it just depends on if they have more pace. It is always maximum attack, you always aim for that. You always want to do your best, but trying too much doesn't help. There is a fine line with the 'maximum attack'."
Red Bull could only manage eighth and ninth in qualifying but Bottas is refusing to write them off after it surprised everyone in Belgium.
"I think we should never underestimate them. Like we saw last weekend in Spa, with the Red Bull, they were really quick. We didn't really expect to be behind them. So, we should not underestimate. But we are a bit more confident here than at Spa.
"Hopefully there is not much threat from behind us and hopefully we can mainly focus on the things happening just in front of us or hopefully we can really challenge them."
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