Valtteri Bottas stunned the Montreal pitlane by qualifying a superb third for the Canadian GP, having been fast throughout the damp session.
The Finn was fourth in both Q1 and Q2 as the weather hid the usual deficiencies of his Williams.
“Of course it means a lot,” said Bottas. “It’s way more up in the grid than what we really could ever imagine. It’s been so difficult, the first six races for us and it will be a nice boost for the team. We really got everything quite right today.
“I don’t think we expected to be on the first or second row. I think everyone in our team was hoping for rain because there’s always a chance if you get the timing right, get everything right, you can maybe finish a bit higher than where the car is sometimes. But yes, the race is tomorrow. If it’s dry, for sure it’s going to be difficult, it’s not going to be easy, so let’s see.”
Inevitably he’s hoping for more rain on Sunday.
“I think the fact is in the dry the car doesn’t belong to P3 at the moment, so yeah, of course some rain would help us, like it did in the qualifying. Because I think we found, for the Inter tyres especially, a quite good way of how to really work the tyre, the right temperatures and everything – so I hope so.”
Adam Cooper F1 