The Finn progressed into Q3 in all 101 of his starts for Mercedes, notching 20 poles during that time, in a streak that stretches back to his Williams farewell in the 2016 Abu Dhabi GP.
On Friday, Bottas notched the sixth fastest time in second practice at Sakhir with his qualifying simulation resulting in a 1m32.951s to finish 1.015s adrift of pacesetter Max Verstappen.
That came despite him only managing an out lap in FP1 after an electrical issue aboard his C42 created a misfire and he was side-lined for the rest of the one-hour session.
Despite the truncated running and not knowing the engine modes of his rivals, Bottas reckoned his Friday practice pace would allow him to ādefinitely fightā for Q3.
He said: āI would like to say where we are exactly, but the truth is, I don’t know.
āIt’s close and you don’t know how turned up different teams are.
āWhen we look at all the GPS data tonight, we will get some kind of understanding.
āBut for me, the positive thing is it…
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