Bottas was one of the stars of qualifying on Saturday evening as he charged to sixth place on the grid, making him the top qualifier outside the ‘big three’ teams.
It means the Finn will start on the third row of the grid alongside Hamilton after the Mercedes driver could only muster fifth, trailing both Ferraris and both Red Bulls.
Bottas also out-qualified his replacement at Mercedes, George Russell, who ended up ninth.
“We’re starting side by side, it’s pretty cool,” Bottas said, when asked about lining up next to Hamilton.
“I just saw him and we were both smiling. It should be fun.
“If somebody had told me in Bahrain we’re going to be starting side by side with Lewis, I’d take it.
“But yeah, this is the beginning, the starting point for our journey. Now we need to make sure we’re looking ahead and trying to look forward rather than backwards. So it’s exciting.”
Bottas also said it was “pretty cool” to have out-qualified the car he got out of at…
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